


(I wanna know how you taste) Now that you keep me warm

by g_odalisque13



Category: EXO (Band), SHINee
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Angst, College, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Dorms, F/F, Fluff, Genderswap, Lesbian Character, Romance, Self-Acceptance, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-03 21:30:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6627214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/g_odalisque13/pseuds/g_odalisque13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As an RA in the freshman dorms, Baekhyun is supposed to offer guidance to freshman girls, not fall for one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	(I wanna know how you taste) Now that you keep me warm

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on September 14, 2014 on [LJ](http://g-odalisque13.livejournal.com/85696.html).

“Okay, have a good night,” Baekhyun said to the girls in 202, closing the door behind herself as she stepped back into the hall and made checks on her clipboard next to the names _Seulgi_ and _Wendy_.

Making the rounds once a week to check in on every girl on the second floor of the smaller freshman dorms was just part of her job as an RA. It got a little tedious, but she liked most of the girls, so it wasn't so bad. Plus, she got free housing, and her own room and bathroom, so there was that.

Knocking on the door to 203, Baekhyun braced herself for whatever strange things were going to happen this time.

The door opened to reveal a girl with big, brown eyes, full lips, and soft-looking brown hair that was pulled back from her face in a messy bun.

Baekhyun pretended to be confused.

“You don't live here,” she observed, making a show of standing on her tiptoes to look behind her into the room.

The girl's face was already stretched into a wide grin, eyes laughing as she reached out to playfully hit Baekhyun on the shoulder before stepping aside to let her in.

The actual residents of the room didn't seem particularly interested in her visit, however.

“Why do you even hang out with these people, Jongin?” Baekhyun joked, addressing the girl from before, “They're not even paying any attention to you. One is stalking that dude on Facebook and the other is taking pictures of herself for Instragram.”

“My thing is less dumb,” Zitao piped up from her bed before posing for yet another shot.

“Lies,” Sehun replied, eyes still glued to the screen.

Zitao scoffed, “Please. Joonmyun doesn't even know who you are.”

Making an indignant noise, Sehun turned around to shoot her roommate a glare before going back to creepily looking at Joonmyun's family vacation photos from the previous summer.

“So!” Baekhyun cut in, “How are you guys doing? Any complaints?”

“My roommate is horrible,” Sehun said stoically, not even turning this time.

“Well, mine is hung up on some upperclassman and she won't shut up about him _ever_ ,” Zitao shot back, “And some of us aren't interested in men.”

“Okay...” Baekhyun responded, shooting a look at Jongin who huffed out a laugh, “Any _actual_ problems?”

“Someone keeps pissing on the toilet seats,” Zitao told Baekhyun, clearly annoyed even as she typed something on her phone.

“It's probably Jongin,” Sehun said, and Jongin squawked.

“Hey! Why would I do that?” she pouted, and Baekhyun smiled indulgently, running her fingers through Jongin's overgrown side bangs.

“Aw, of course it's not Jonginnie,” she cooed, and Jongin beamed, leaning into the touch, “It's probably one of you two,” she added, voice still saccharine.

It was difficult to say whose protests were louder, Sehun's or Zitao's.

“Well,” Baekhyun took her hand back and checked off Sehun's and Zitao's names on her clipboard, “If that's it, I'll get going.”

“What about the pee?” Zitao demanded, like she expected Baekhyun to install security cameras in the communal bathroom or something.

“I'll mention it when I check on the rest of the floor,” Baekhyun shrugged, “But I can't really do anything unless you want me to buy everyone one of those things so girls can pee standing up.”

“There are things so girls can pee standing up?” Zitao asked, looking intrigued.

“Yeah. I dunno what they're called,” Baekhyun said, starting to make for the door, “Google it or something.”

“Sehun-” Zitao started, before Sehun cut her off.

“No, Zitao. Google it on your own computer.”

“Bye guys,” Baekhyun tried, but was mostly drowned out by Zitao's whine.

“Bye,” Jongin waved, smiling shyly like she usually did when she wasn't amused enough to forget to school her face, “See you in class tomorrow.”

“See you, Jongin,” Baekhyun replied, shooting her a grin before closing the door.

There was a loud screech from inside the room and Baekhyun imagined that Zitao had probably hijacked Sehun's computer to search for female urinal devices, thereby interrupting Sehun's stalker time. But as long as they didn't destroy the room, it wasn't really her business.

So it was on to the next room, which would probably (hopefully) be more normal than that.

\---

Jongin lived in the joint freshman and sophomore dorm, so she wasn't one of the freshmen that Baekhyun was in charge of. But she still saw her as much as some of her residents considering the amount of time she spent with Sehun. The two freshman girls had met at the beginning of the year when they both made the dance team and became best friends. Now, Jongin probably spent as much time in Sehun's dorm room as she did her own.

However, while that was how Baekhyun had met Jongin initially, the reason they were close was due to their shared film elective that had started a month prior. Jongin had clearly not known anyone else in the class and Baekhyun had been quick to invite Jongin to sit next to her. She'd always seemed like a sweet girl, albeit shy. But over the past few weeks, she'd opened up more and Baekhyun found herself enjoying a genuine friendship with the younger girl.

She'd started to tease Zitao and Sehun that one of them should switch with Jongin, because Jongin was so nice and they were a handful. But Zitao had just rolled her eyes and told her that she'd miss them if they moved out. Sadly, it was probably true.

\---

Baekhyun huffed, shifting uncomfortably on her bed and trying to decide what to do about the throb between her legs. This was what she got for reading erotica on her phone in the middle of the day.

Pressing her fingers against herself through her sweat pants, Baekhyun considered masturbating to relieve the ache. That would certainly be the quickest solution, but why do something for yourself when you could get someone to do it for you? (Okay, that probably wasn't the greatest outlook for a lot of things, but she was pretty sure it applied to sex.)

Grabbing her phone from where it was laying on her stomach, Baekhyun fired off a text to her best friend and former roommate, Chanyeol.

_what are you doing now?_

Chanyeol replied almost instantly.

_trying to make it past this level of candy crush ><_

Baekhyun would make fun of her, but considering she'd been reading porn, she probably had no grounds for it.

_how do you feel about coming over to eat me out?_

Chanyeol's reply showed up before Baekhyun's phone screen had even gone to sleep.

_i feel positively! be over in a few!_

Baekhyun snorted, but smiled to herself as she set her phone aside.

When they had been roommates freshman year, it had only taken Baekhyun about a month to decide to bite the bullet and tell Chanyeol that she was a lesbian. Which had gone better than she'd anticipated, when Chanyeol's response had been, "Perfect! I'm bi!" with as much enthusiasm as Baekhyun had come to expect from Chanyeol, though not regarding the topic of her sexuality.

From there, it had only been a couple weeks before they had started their friends-with-benefits arrangement in the name of experience and experimentation. Since neither of them had ever had sex with a girl, it was a mutually beneficial learning experience. And after they'd both more than mastered the fine art of going down on a girl, it was just a nice way to unwind after a long day of classes.

That year, since Chanyeol had a single in the sophomore dorms across campus and Baekhyun was a freshman RA, they didn't hook up nearly as much as they had previously, but neither hesitated to contact the other if they were in need.

Still, aside from their sexcapades, they saw each other at least three times a week since they were best friends and had been since they'd managed to absolutely frustrate everyone on their floor by how loud they were when doing something as simple as homework.

But despite how loud they were together, most people on campus didn't know that they were hooking up or that Baekhyun was a lesbian. Freshman year, she hadn't broadcasted it since she had to share a bathroom with all the girls on her floor, and she was scared that some might freak out at the idea of walking around in a towel with a lesbian nearby. This year, she wanted to make sure that the freshmen she was responsible for were comfortable with her so that they could come to her with any problems they had, and she knew there was a possibility that her sexuality might make some of them uncomfortable (obviously not Zitao since she was as out as they came, but still).

The fact that she liked girls wasn't a secret (she'd been out to her family since she'd been a junior in high school), but she didn't freely announce it either.

Chanyeol's loud knock had Baekhyun rolling out of bed and padding over to the door in her bare feet.

"Reading porn again?" Chanyeol asked when Baekhyun had opened the door.

Baekhyun rolled her eyes even as she stepped aside to let Chanyeol into her room.

"You need better hobbies, man," Chanyeol teased.

"Like Candy Crush?" Baekhyun asked sarcastically.

Chanyeol nodded and grinned, "Exactly."

"Maybe it's _you_ who needs better hobbies," she remarked, "Porn is a lot more interesting than phone games."

"But why would I need porn when you call me up to get you off all the time?"

Baekhyun huffed.

"Speaking of which..." Chanyeol said, stepping forward to cage Baekhyun against the wall and press their lips together.

Baekhyun let an appreciative moan against her mouth.

Benefits, indeed.

\---

"That was...what did we just watch?" Jongin wondered, blinking like she was trying to process what she'd just seen as she and Baekhyun left their international film class.

"I don't know," Baekhyun laughed, "But I'm inclined to say I liked it."

"How?" Jongin asked, wide-eyed.

"Because how often do you get to see a man who wears tacky overalls nurture a corpse that grows hair?" she replied easily, grinning when Jongin sputtered.

"But that part when the woman had hair growing from underneath her fingernails and then pulled it out..." Jongin shivered.

"Artistic genius," Baekhyun proclaimed, and she knew that Jongin had no idea whether she was being serious or not.

"I don't know how to feel about any of that," Jongin confessed, "I think I'm...disturbed?"

"How about we go get coffee so you can become less disturbed?" Baekhyun suggested, holding the door to the film building open and letting Jongin walk through.

Jongin smiled gratefully, “Thank you.”

“Don't mistake this as me being entirely selfless,” Baekhyun teased, “I _do_ want the coffee.”

Once they were settled at a table by the window, neon signs of the surrounding businesses cutting through the dark outside, and they'd thoroughly picked apart the film during the walk there, Jongin was no longer grimacing about hair growing out of eyeballs and was talking about dance team instead.

“And Taemin might get to choreograph a piece for the showcase,” she was saying, pausing briefly to take an enthusiastic sip of her frappuccino, “Which is really cool since he's only a freshman.”

“Does that mean he'll put you in the front since you're friends?” Baekhyun asked, propping her feet on the seat of the booth next to Jongin and poking her in the thigh with her big toe.

“That's what Sehun wants,” Jongin told her with a laugh, “But he should do what _he_ wants. It'll be his vision, after all.”

Normally, Baekhyun would scoff at such a statement, but after getting to know Jongin, she knew that the other girl was genuine in what she said.

“Maybe you can come to the showcase to watch?” Jongin suggested shyly, fingertips drawing in the condensation on the outside of her plastic cup, “If you want to.”

“Sure,” Baekhyun agreed, watching the pleased smile spread across Jongin's face, but choosing to tease her regardless, “But only because Sehun will probably bug me to go anyway. May as well save myself hours of her nagging.”

“ _Baek_ ,” Jongin half whined, half laughed, and Baekhyun cackled.

“I'm just teasing, Jonginnie,” she assured her, toes kneading into Jongin's thigh and causing the younger to slap at her foot, “Just don't tell Sehun I'm only there to see you. She'll get jealous.”

Jongin beamed and Baekhyun felt her heart swell with affection.

\---

When she'd signed up for classes, the one credit writing workshop that took place over the course of two Saturdays a month and a half into the semester had seemed like a great idea. Now that she was sitting in a lecture hall at nine in the morning on a Saturday, she was having second thoughts.

If it wasn't for the large latte she was nursing, she was pretty sure she'd have been asleep in her seat.

As it was, she was really only semi-conscious- just awake enough to kind of half-heartedly check the news on her phone- so she didn't even look over when she felt someone sit in the seat next to her. Which was why she was surprised to be addressed.

“Baekhyun, right?” the girl next to her was saying, and Baekhyun looked up to see a familiar looking girl with huge eyes and her chin length, black hair tucked behind her ears.

“Uh...” it wasn't a hard question, but it was early, “Yes?”

The girl's full lips curved up in a smile that looked vaguely heart shaped.

“I'm Kyungsoo,” she told her, “We kind of met last semester.”

Finally Baekhyun's brain got a grasp on the situation, “Oh! You're Jongin's roommate!”

Kyungsoo nodded, laughing at Baekhyun's enthusiastic realization.

“Sorry, I'm still half asleep,” she apologized and Kyungsoo waved her off.

“I probably hear more about you than you do about me, anyway,” Kyungsoo joked and Baekhyun tilted her head in question. Jongin talked about Kyungsoo pretty regularly since they were roommates, so she didn't know why Kyungsoo would think that.

Kyungsoo chuckled at Baekhyun's confusion.

“Jongin talks about you all the time,” she informed her, smiling in amusement, “She _adores_ you.”

Baekhyun found herself initially unsure of how to respond. Normally, she'd make a comment along the lines of, _“Well, of course she does. Everyone does.”_ But somehow that didn't seem to fit the situation.

After struggling to think of the right thing to say to that for a few seconds, Baekhyun finally got out a giggle and, “She likes you too.”

Not her best work, but it was early, okay?

Plus, it was hard to think past the pleasant, fluttery warmth in her chest.

\---

“I don't want to go home to do my math homework,” Jongin whined, curled up next to Baekhyun on her futon.

“Yes, but it's due tomorrow,” Baekhyun reminded her, reaching up to pat Jongin on the head even as Jongin notched her head in the crook of Baekhyun's neck.

With a displeased sound, Jongin made herself more comfortable against Baekhyun's side.

“Come on,” Baekhyun urged, moving her shoulder and making Jongin whimper at her, “You have homework and I have to make my rounds.”

Jongin whined again, but finally sat up straight- allowing Baekhyun to drag her up off the futon.

“Do you need me to mother you like Kyungsoo does?” Baekhyun threatened, watching as Jongin gathered her papers from where they were strewn across Baekhyun's coffee table.

Reaching out to swipe halfheartedly in Baekhyun's direction, Jongin grumbled about not being a child, which had Baekhyun laughing at her and dodging the more purposeful smack Jongin aimed at her side.

When Jongin had her backpack packed up, Baekhyun opened the door to herd her out.

“Out you go,” she chided, playfully smacking Jongin's ass as she walked past her.

Jongin squawked and landed a joking hit on Baekhyun's shoulder as she snickered.

“Hey!” Sehun complained loudly from outside the door on her way back from the communal bathroom, “Jongin! You told me you were busy with homework today!”

“I was doing my film homework with Baekhyun,” Jongin explained, eyes wide with apology, “I'm going home to do my math homework now.”

Sehun huffed and pouted, “You could have at least stopped by to say hi.”

“But then she would have been sucked into the vortex of insanity that is your dorm room,” Baekhyun pointed out and Sehun stuck her tongue out at her.

“What's happening out here?” Zitao asked, leaning out the door, “Oh, hey, Jongin.”

“Can you believe she came to hang out with Baekhyun instead of us?” Sehun whined, jutting out her lower lip in Zitao's direction.

“Yes?” Zitao answered, shrugging, and Sehun's sulking amped up even more.

Baekhyun cocked a judgmental eyebrow at her.

“Come on,” Zitao grabbed Sehun's wrist, obviously more interested in having Sehun's attention than she was in Jongin's whereabouts, “You said you'd watch a movie with me, not whine in the hall like a baby.”

“I'm not being a baby!” Sehun protested, allowing herself to be dragged back into her room by Zitao, even as Zitao rolled her eyes and mocked her childishly.

“Well,” Baekhyun said with a laugh when the door had clicked shut behind them, “See you in class?”

Jongin grinned and nodded, “Thanks for the help with the homework.”

“No problem,” Baekhyun said, “Good luck on math!”

Jongin groaned and Baekhyun waved her off with a laugh.

Fond smile still playing on her lips, Baekhyun went back into her room to retrieve her clipboard for rounds- rounds that would probably take twice as long as usual because Sehun was bound to complain some more and accuse her of stealing her best friend or something.

She had her own best friend, thank you.

Jongin was just sweet and made Baekhyun happy. Besides, Sehun was plenty busy with Zitao. Zitao made sure of that.

\---

“So that project is gonna be really hard,” Chanyeol finished, angling her hips toward Baekhyun's face and inhaling sharply when Baekhyun nibbled on her clit, “Oh, and I forgot to tell you, I r-”

“Can you be quieter?” Baekhyun complained, pulling back from where her face had been buried between Chanyeol's thighs, “You talk so much.”

“Hey,” Chanyeol frowned, “You talk way more than I do.”

Baekhyun licked a quick stripe up Chanyeol's pussy before replying.

“Yeah, but everything I say is of utmost importance.”

“Debatable,” Chanyeol told her, threading her fingers through Baekhyun's hair and urging her to get back to eating her out.

Baekhyun rolled her eyes, but lapped at Chanyeol's arousal anyway- nails digging hard into Chanyeol's thighs just to be a shit.

“As I was saying,” Chanyeol continued, leaning back against the pillows on Baekhyun's bed and groaning appreciatively as Baekhyun slid a finger into her, “I ran into Jongin the other day.”

At the mention of the younger girl, Baekhyun paused, but then quickly resumed what she was doing.

“She's really pretty,” Chanyeol went on, “I don't know why I didn't notice before when you introduced us that one time. But anyway, yeah. She's hot. Too bad she likes guys, huh?” Chanyeol laughed and then choked on her breath when Baekhyun suddenly shoved another finger into her.

“Shit, Baek,” Chanyeol gasped, “A little warning would be nice.”

“Maybe you would have been more prepared if you hadn't been yammering on,” Baekhyun grumbled, biting the inside of Chanyeol's thigh hard enough to leave a mark.

“Why are you so grumpy?” Chanyeol complained, fingers playing with Baekhyun's ear, “The Jongin story was relevant to you. She's your friend.”

“Yeah, she is my friend,” Baekhyun snapped, two fingers deep in Chanyeol's pussy and suddenly feeling angry, “So I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about her being hot while I'm eating you out.”

Chanyeol shot her a look of confusion, “O-kay?”

“Thank you,” Baekhyun huffed, still feeling annoyance simmering under her skin even if she wasn't quite sure why.

But still, she got Chanyeol off, licking her through her release, and allowed Chanyeol to pull her up the bed when she'd finished.

“Sorry,” Chanyeol apologized, looking concerned and still perplexed by Baekhyun's sudden mood change, “I didn't mean to-”

“It's fine,” Baekhyun cut her off, even if she still felt uneasy about Chanyeol's remarks, “I'm just...tired.”

Chanyeol didn't seem entirely convinced, but she didn't push it.

Baekhyun, herself, was kind of confused by her reaction to Chanyeol mentioning Jongin, but, to be fair, most people didn't have to deal with the person they were going down on bringing up their other friends in the middle of sex. That was weird, right? Chanyeol didn't talk about any of her other friends during sex, did she? Baekhyun couldn't remember. But she'd probably be annoyed if Chanyeol started talking about Sehun or something. Because she didn't really want to think about Sehun when she was tonguing Chanyeol's clit. That would be awkward as hell.

“Can I eat you out, now?” Chanyeol asked, cautious and almost timid when she'd usually just push Baekhyun back onto the bed and dive between her legs.

“Yeah,” Baekhyun agreed, shooting Chanyeol a smile so she'd stop looking like a kicked puppy. Because she wasn't actually mad at her. Not really. She was just thrown off, that was all.

Chanyeol eagerly scooted down the bed and pushed Baekhyun's legs up so that her thighs were against her chest before dipping her head and licking a broad stroke along the length of Baekhyun's arousal. And yes, that was good. Baekhyun couldn't even remember why she'd been annoyed.

Except, oh yeah, because Chanyeol had brought up Jongin out of nowhere.

Jongin.

Unbidden, an image of Jongin's face settled itself at the forefront of Baekhyun's mind- her heavy-lidded eyes, her plush lips, the slope of her nose. She really _was_ attractive. There was absolutely no doubt about that. How Chanyeol could have possibly missed it, Baekhyun had no idea.

Speaking of Chanyeol, Baekhyun moaned- back arching- as Chanyeol plunged her tongue inside of her, fingers tapping out a rhythm against her clit that had her muscles convulsing. _Fuck_ , that was so good. She was-

Jongin also had an amazing body. Baekhyun had heard her complaining to Sehun and Zitao about how she wasn't as thin as them, but Baekhyun thought that Jongin's body was absolutely _perfect_. She was toned in the right places and soft in the right places and proportioned so perfectly-

Spreading Baekhyun's legs even further apart with her large hands braced on the insides of her thighs, Chanyeol drew figure eight's against Baekhyun's swollen clit- sending shudders through her body and pulses of pleasure surging through her that-

And Jongin's _ass_. Baekhyun didn't even have words to describe the amazingness of Jongin's ass. It was so soft and round and it jiggled when she walked and Baekhyun just wanted to grab it and feel it in the palms of her hands and-

Lips wrapped around her clit and one long finger inside her, Chanyeol had Baekhyun right at the edge. Everything was building up and Baekhyun could feel her head starting to spin as her release crept up on her and got ready to explode. She could feel the tightening of her pussy as Chanyeol sucked hard on her clit until she-

Sometimes Jongin made the sexiest faces when she didn't even mean to. She'd just be sitting there and then she'd look up at Baekhyun with her eyes half-lidded and her tongue skating over her lower lip and Baekhyun just wanted to-

With a choked cry, Baekhyun felt her orgasm slam into her hard enough that she could see colors dancing behind her lids as she squeezed her eyes shut and felt the way her clit was pulsing against Chanyeol's tongue and sending waves of pleasure through her that made it hard to breathe.

Her body was sensitive and her breathing was ragged as she came down, fingers tingling and spots obscuring her vision.

“That sounded like a good one,” Chanyeol observed, flopping down next to her on her twin sized bed and awkwardly knocking into her with her long limbs.

Baekhyun hummed in agreement, feeling like jelly as her body came down from her high.

Chanyeol pulled the sheet over them and curled around Baekhyun's body so neither of them would end up toppling off the side of the bed (it had happened before).

That had been a really satisfying orgasm. Chanyeol must have been getting even better with her tongue.

Completely content to doze for a couple hours, Baekhyun let her eyes fall closed and her breathing even out. She didn't have anything to do for another four hours when she was supposed to meet Jongin to-

 _Jongin_.

Suddenly, Baekhyun was wide awake, even as Chanyeol snuffled in her sleep against the side of Baekhyun's face.

When Baekhyun had tipped over the edge- no wait. The _whole time_ Chanyeol had been eating her out, Baekhyun had been thinking about Jongin.

Baekhyun had been thinking about Jongin while Chanyeol _licked her pussy_ and _made her come_.

That was-

Baekhyun felt her heart pounding in her chest.

This was-

This was why people shouldn't talk about friends in the middle of sex! This was why! This was-

This was probably not good.

\---

Baekhyun was interrupted from staring at her hamper and thinking about doing laundry by a knock at her door. She figured it was one of the girls from her floor, and hoped that she wasn't needed as a mediator in an argument between roommates. But to her surprise, it was Jongin standing there, obviously having come from dance practice in her tank top and cotton shorts- the hair at her temples damp from sweat.

Baekhyun peered over Jongin's shoulder, wondering where Sehun was since the two would have walked back from practice together.

“I told Sehun we had homework,” she said, apparently knowing what Baekhyun was thinking.

Bewildered, Baekhyun stepped aside and let Jongin into her room, watching as Jongin dropped down onto her futon and made a sound of frustration.

“What's up?” Baekhyun asked, brows raised and mildly amused by the agitated squirming Jongin was doing.

“You know Taemin?” Jongin finally prompted, looking at Baekhyun with the one eye that wasn't covered by her own arm draped across her face.

“I'm familiar with his work, yes” Baekhyun replied cheekily, “Was he the one who cut off his own ear, or am I thinking of someone else?”

“ _Baekhyun_ ,” Jongin whined and Baekhyun laughed.

“Yes, I know Taemin,” she conceded and nudged Jongin over with a knee so she could sit down too, “What about him?”

“I don't know!” she wailed before flopping around some more.

Baekhyun snorted, “I'm not sure how to help you, then.”

“I think he likes me!” Jongin squeaked and then kicked her sneaker-clad feet out in front of her.

“Okay...”

“But maybe he doesn't,” Jongin amended and made a half-whimper, half growl.

“What's the problem?” Baekhyun asked when Jongin continued to roll around and make sounds instead of explain further.

“How am I supposed to know if he likes me?” Jongin demanded, distressed.

Baekhyun shrugged, “If you think he likes you, he probably does.”

“I mean, I don't know?” Jongin hedged, sitting up slightly, “We've always been friends and he's always been kind of flirty, but it seems like...more now.”

Jongin wasn't exactly painting the most vivid picture, but then again, it was Jongin.

Baekhyun waited for Jongin to expound.

She didn't.

“Maybe Sehun could be more helpful since she actually knows Taemin and is witness to this mating dance that is apparently occurring,” Baekhyun suggested and Jongin just looked at her like she was crazy.

“But then Sehun will turn around and tell Taemin what I said,” Jongin told her, looking horrified at the prospect.

Jongin _did_ have a point.

“What should I do?” Jongin whined, looking at her imploringly from where she was sprawled next to her on the futon.

“Get better friends?” Baekhyun shrugged and laughed when Jongin kicked at her.

“ _No_ , about _Taemin_.”

“I don't think you really need to do anything,” Baekhyun told her honestly, “I mean, if it bothers you, you should tell him to stop. Otherwise just...continue turning oxygen to carbon dioxide.”

Jongin made another distressed sound.

“Do you want to date him?” Baekhyun forced herself to ask.

Jongin stopped thrashing at that and got quiet.

“I dunno,” she admitted.

“Well,” Baekhyun clapped her hands, and Jongin jumped, startled, “Then there's nothing you need to be doing other than being your _wonderful self_.”

Baekhyun's sudden cooing, along with the pinch on the cheek she gave her had Jongin laughing and batting her hands away.

“Thanks,” Jongin said to her when she'd stopped giggling, “For listening.”

“Nah,” Baekhyun waved her off, “It's no problem. Besides, I'm an RA. It's what I'm here for. It's why I have my own bathroom.”

“I don't even live in your building though,” Jongin pointed out, looking worried, like Baekhyun might have forgotten and was going to scold her for wasting her time.

“Yeah, but I like you better, remember?” Baekhyun teased and Jongin giggled, blushing, “Wanna watch a movie or something, or do you have homework to do?”

“I was gonna get started on my history paper, but that's not due until next week,” Jongin told her, nibbling on her thumb nail thoughtfully.

Baekhyun raised her eyebrows exaggeratedly as she waited for Jongin's final verdict.

“Movie,” Jongin said decisively and Baekhyun grinned.

Laundry could definitely wait.

\---

Baekhyun knocked on the door to Sehun's and Zitao's room, idly wondering if Jongin would be there.

“Who is it?” Sehun called out from inside.

“Baekhyun!” she yelled back, “Your one and only, wonderful RA.”

There was a little shuffling around inside before the door swung open to reveal Sehun with her blonde hair pulled up in a high ponytail and her lanky body clad in a pair of leggings and a big t-shirt.

“Zitao was trying on her new bra for me,” Sehun explained, “So I had to make sure you weren't some dude.”

Baekhyun stepped into the room and raised a brow at Zitao who was in a _sheer_ black and cream bra and a pair of ripped up, high-waisted jean shorts.

Zitao just threw her a smirk before plopping down on her bed and grabbing her cell phone.

Sehun sat down in her desk chair and went on facebook, seemingly unaware of Zitao's blatant seduction attempts.

“So, how are you two?” Baekhyun asked, tapping her pen against her clipboard.

“I need advice,” Sehun announced and Baekhyun cocked a hip and a brow.

“If it's about a bra, can't you just model it for Zitao?” she joked and Zitao leered in Sehun's direction.

“It's not about a bra,” Sehun huffed, and Zitao sighed and went back to her phone, “It's about Joonmyun.”

Zitao's eye roll was nearly audible.

But Baekhyun couldn't blame her. It was becoming increasingly obvious that Zitao's interest in Sehun was real and not just a way to amuse herself. Even if Sehun appeared to be completely oblivious.

“Have you talked to him yet?” she dutifully asked, and Sehun's pout was all the answer she needed.

“No,” Sehun told her anyway, “But that's what I need advice about. How do I get him to notice me so I can actually talk to him? And then date him?”

“I'm not sure about the dating part, but if you run around screaming about the importance of tin foil, he'll _definitely_ notice you,” Baekhyun told her sagely.

Sehun stared at her like she was at a loss, but really. She'd asked _Baekhyun_ for advice. What had she been expecting?

Sehun whined and stomped her foot.

“That's not helpful at all!”

Baekhyun shrugged and grinned.

“Aren't you supposed to be full of advice about guys?” Sehun complained, “You're older!”

Baekhyun saw Zitao raise her eyebrows in amusement, and her suspicions that Zitao knew that she was gay were strengthened.

“Well, it's not my fault that you don't like my advice,” Baekhyun said to her, sidestepping the fact that she really had no boy-expertise. But in truth, she'd have probably said the same thing even if she _was_ an expert on men.

“Ugh, whatever,” Sehun sulked.

“How are you doing, Zitao?” Baekhyun asked, checking Sehun's name off her list because _close enough_.

Zitao hummed and stretched languidly, body on display- probably in case Sehun turned around.

If Baekhyun didn't have entirely platonic feelings for Zitao, she would definitely have been enticed. Girl had game, that was for sure.

“Aside from hearing Joonmyun's name more times a day than Joonmyun probably hears it, I can't complain,” Zitao told her with a smirk and Sehun turned around to shoot Zitao a look.

Zitao seemed pleased that her careful body positioning had paid off.

“Your endurance of your struggles is admirable,” Baekhyun told Zitao, and Zitao laughed even as Sehun grumbled.

“You're nice to everyone but me,” Sehun whined, and Baekhyun cackled.

“Nah, I'm not that nice to Zitao either,” she assured her.

“You're nice to Jongin,” Sehun pointed out with a pout.

“That's because she's my favorite,” Baekhyun told her teasingly, “I've told you that before.”

But even as Sehun continued to complain about favoritism, Baekhyun could feel the aftertaste of her words on the back of her tongue. Somehow, it didn't seem so funny anymore.

\---

Baekhyun walked alongside Jongin, squinting against the late afternoon sun and listening as Jongin tried to describe the newest dance routine that she was working on.

Earlier that day, Jongin had texted Baekhyun, telling her that she was going crazy sitting inside the library and asking if Baekhyun wanted to go on a walk in the park near campus before their film class. Baekhyun hadn't had anything to do, so she'd agreed.

Now that they were walking along one of the winding, paved paths that ran through the park, Baekhyun was glad she had. She'd probably been spending too much time inside lately. And it was always fun to watch Jongin speak so animatedly.

“It's mostly hip hop,” Jongin was saying, gesticulating to try to get her point across, “But there are elements of contemporary dance as well.”

“It sounds cool,” Baekhyun replied and Jongin beamed. She only half knew what Jongin was talking about, but the important thing was that Jongin could share it with her.

“You can see it if you come to the showcase,” Jongin told her excitedly before seeming to remember herself, “But if you end up being busy or something and can't come, it's fine.”

“Jongin,” Baekhyun said with a laugh, “I told you I'd come.”

“I know,” Jongin said, playing with the ends of her ponytail, “But I don't want you to feel obligated.”

“Sehun will make me feel obligated,” Baekhyun joked, “You don't.”

Jongin huffed out a shy laugh before catching sight of a pair of dachshund puppies on the path up ahead.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, reaching out to grab Baekhyun's arm in excitement, “Puppies!”

Her eyes were shining like she was a kid walking into a toy store and her grip on Baekhyun's arm tightened as the dogs got closer.

Baekhyun chuckled, “We can ask if we can pet them.”

Jongin nodded, already letting go of Baekhyun's arm to step forward and get the dog owner's attention. It was funny because Jongin usually avoided talking to strangers at all costs, but apparently when puppies were on the line, all bets were off.

Getting the go-ahead from the owner, Jongin grinned and dropped into a squat next to the dogs- laughing when their little paws scrabbled at her legs as they tried to get closer to her face. “Baek,” Jongin looked up at her, eyes curved in a smile, “Come here.”

Baekhyun shot an appreciative smile at the puppies' owner before crouching next to Jongin and holding out a hand to the excited dogs. Both puppies sniffed at her palm and gave her skin a few short licks before one of them scampered back over to Jongin, trying to jump into her lap and making Jongin giggle happily.

It was hard to say who was more delighted, the puppy or Jongin, as Jongin scooped the puppy up into her arms and allowed it to lick at her chin.

Baekhyun scratched the other puppy behind its ears, catching a rogue doggy tongue on her wrists as the puppy wagged its tail hard enough that it shook its entire body. But as cute as the puppy was, Baekhyun was having a hard time looking away from Jongin- watching happily as Jongin made cooing sounds at the puppy and spoke softly to it as the puppy nuzzled into her neck and wiggled excitedly in her hold.

Smiling, Baekhyun felt affection bloom in her chest for the girl in front of her- having the sudden urge to lean over and press a kiss to Jongin's cheek and watch her eyes light up because of her.

And then that thought sunk in and Baekhyun felt like she was in an elevator going up too many floors, too fast.

She froze where she was, causing the puppy to yip and lick at her fingers to urge her to keep up the scratches.

Absently resuming her petting, Baekhyun swallowed around the truth that was uncomfortably lodged in her throat.

All of this time, she'd been joking that Jongin was her favorite and it had been so much more true than she'd realized.

Even after the incident when she'd thought about Jongin as Chanyeol ate her out, she'd been able to brush it off. Because Jongin was attractive and a girl and Baekhyun liked attractive girls, so it wasn't super weird that she'd thought of her when she'd gotten off.

But now with Jongin's smiling face in front of her and the urge to hold her hand and press soft kisses all over her face, Baekhyun couldn't deny the fact that her feelings for Jongin were neither platonic nor purely physical.

Baekhyun's feelings for Jongin were _real_. She wanted to kiss her and cuddle her and take her on cute dates that might end with Jongin pinned to Baekhyun's bed with her dark hair splayed around her like a halo as Baekhyun made her feel good.

As Jongin's already wide smile got even bigger when the puppy in her arms licked at the tip of her nose, Baekhyun couldn't shake the need she had to make Jongin smile like that for _her_. And that was not something she'd been prepared for.

\---

Sitting in class, Baekhyun tried to pay attention to the film they were watching. Maybe if it had been about overalls and hair she'd have been able to focus. But it was some love story with a lot of crying, so she wasn't particularly enthralled.

Moreover, Jongin's presence next to her was far more interesting to her than the movie- her profile in the low light, the way she kept tapping her index finger against her full lower lip, the way her brows would furrow whenever something bad would happen in the film. Baekhyun was having a hard time tearing her eyes away.

The only upside was that Jongin wasn't the most observant person she'd ever met, so she remained unaware of Baekhyun's blatant staring.

But even more distracting than Jongin's face was Baekhyun's own mind.

Now that Baekhyun had been slapped in the face with her feelings for Jongin via Jongin playing with puppies, she couldn't help her brain from running in circles, trying to make sense of it and trying to figure out how she could have missed it.

She was pretty sure that her feelings for Jongin had really been platonic first semester, simply because she hadn't known her well enough for her feelings to have developed into anything more. But sometime over the past two months, she'd fallen and she'd fallen harder than she thought she could without even being aware it was happening.

As the movie played in the background, passionate exclamations made in one of the romance languages filling the otherwise silent classroom with sound, Baekhyun was left with the question of what to do now. Because Jongin was her friend. Jongin was her friend who was also best friends with one of the girls on her floor whom she was responsible for. Jongin was her friend who had never given any indication that she was interested in women.

Baekhyun let out a shaky exhalation.

It seemed like there wasn't much she _could_ do.

Not unless Jongin started sending very serious I-want-you signals at Baekhyun. And it was pretty safe to say that that wasn't going to happen.

\---

It turned out that there _was_ something that Baekhyun needed to do in light of her feelings for Jongin, and that was end her friends-with-benefits arrangement with Chanyeol.

It wasn't that Baekhyun thought that Chanyeol would _mind_ her having romantic feelings for Jongin, even with them hooking up regularly. But Baekhyun, herself, felt weird about it. Because she didn't want to be fingering Chanyeol and wishing that it was Jongin in her bed, instead. That wasn't fair to Chanyeol and it wasn't fair to herself.

“So, you have feelings for the kid,” Chanyeol observed after Baekhyun had explained everything to her.

“Can we not call her a kid?” Baekhyun requested with a sigh, “I already feel weird that she's best friends with Sehun.”

“Cheer up!” Chanyeol urged, smacking Baekhyun on the back and making her lurch forward from the impact, “She's legal!”

“You are an extremely useless person, you know that?” Baekhyun grumbled.

“I know,” Chanyeol replied with a grin, flopping back on Baekhyun's bed and stretching her legs out far enough that her feet hung over the edge of the mattress.

“But...you're not mad?” Baekhyun asked, hoping that Chanyeol wasn't taking it as rejection. Because it wasn't. It was a precaution. Until she could talk herself out of this...crush didn't seem like the right word, but Baekhyun refused to acknowledge it as being anything more significant.

“Mad?” Chanyeol looked over at her in confusion, “About being useless? Oh! You mean about Jongin?”

“Jongin,” Baekhyun confirmed with a nod, “And me calling off our mutually-beneficial arrangement.”

“Don't be dumb,” Chanyeol laughed, “I understand. And I'll be here if you change your mind,” she grinned before frowning, “Well. I mean, unless I'm dating someone. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!”

Baekhyun laughed in relief, “That's fair.”

“Okay, so can I show you that guy on youtube I was talking about yesterday?” Chanyeol asked, already rolling off Baekhyun's bed to make for her laptop, “He's really funny. I was crying I was laughing so hard. Unless,” she stopped in the middle of the floor, “You wanted to talk about Jongin some more?”

Maybe at some point, but for the time being, she didn't feel like being a whining, lovesick idiot. She wasn't Sehun, okay?

“I'm all set for now,” Baekhyun told her.

“Alright, well, let me know if you want to talk about her ass or something,” Chanyeol told her, grabbing Baekhyun's laptop and jumping back onto the bed.

“Her _ass_?”

“What?” Chanyeol looked at her guilelessly, “She has a nice ass.”

Baekhyun hit her in the face with her pillow.

“Just look up the damn video.”

\---

Baekhyun had resolutely decided to be annoyed at Chanyeol. Not because Chanyeol deserved it, but simply because it was better than the alternative.

Currently, Baekhyun was witness to a distraught Jongin _rolling around in her bed_ wearing _very small shorts_ , and Baekhyun was _upset_.

So, because Chanyeol had brought up how nice Jongin's butt was just the day prior (not that it had been news to Baekhyun), Baekhyun decided to be mad at Chanyeol for tempting the universe like that instead of focusing on how much she wished Jongin was wearing fewer clothes whilst rolling around on her bed. Or perhaps more. The current amount, however, was just torture.

“He keeps _touching_ me!” Jongin wailed and Baekhyun bit her tongue against expressing just how much _she'd_ like to do just that, “What am I supposed to _do_?”

“Uh...”

Witty remarks were easier when she wasn't half-fixated on the way Jongin's tan thighs swelled and disappeared beneath the cotton of her shorts.

“He reached up and stroked my _neck_ after practice today!” she exclaimed, covering her face with her hands, so her next words were muffled, “And I was all sweaty. Isn't that gross, or something?”

Baekhyun scowled, wishing she could have been there to slap Taemin's hand away. Even though she really had no right to do that.

She also chose not to tell Jongin just how _not gross_ it sounded and how it had her imagining Jongin sweating against her sheets as Baekhyun leaned down to lick a stripe up her neck...

“Baekhyun!” Jongin whined, rolling over on her stomach to look beseechingly at Baekhyun, “I'm not qualified for this!”

“For what?” Baekhyun couldn't help the quirk of her lips, “Human interaction?”

“Basically,” Jongin groaned, and Baekhyun, despite her selfish desires, felt herself melt at Jongin's distress.

“You are perfectly qualified for human interaction,” Baekhyun assured her, getting up from her desk chair to tug affectionately on Jongin's ponytail, “You are, like, ten times more qualified for that than Sehun. And she's doing just fine. Mostly.”

Jongin snorted and curled up on her side, looking up at Baekhyun so sweetly that Baekhyun felt her breath catch in her throat.

“Do you think he could really like me?” Jongin asked, voice small and unsure, and Baekhyun's heart felt heavy in her chest.

Forcing a smile, Baekhyun answered honestly, “Of course. He'd be crazy not to.”

\---

Baekhyun was putting up a sign in the common room about that month's floor meeting when Sehun came skulking through after dance practice, sighing loudly and basically begging for Baekhyun to ask her what was wrong.

Humoring her, Baekhyun put the roll of masking tape around her wrist and asked, “Have you forgotten how to breathe properly, Sehun?”

Sehun pouted and chose to answer as though Baekhyun had actually asked her what was bothering her. But, she basically had. In her own way.

“Some people's live are so easy,” she complained, dropping down onto one of the mismatched couches.

“Yours is so difficult,” Baekhyun agreed facetiously, “I know you were out working in the fields all day today.”

Sehun stuck her tongue out.

And yet still chose to tell Baekhyun about why her life was so hard.

“How come some people just get asked out, just like that, when I've been trying to get Joonmyun to notice me all semester without any luck?” she whined.

“Probably because they take my advice,” Baekhyun teased, “I see you haven't done the tin foil thing yet. Perhaps you should also make a tin foil hat, just to really drive the point home.”

Sehun looked so displeased that Baekhyun burst out laughing.

“Who got asked out?” she finally asked when Sehun just continued to scowl at her.

“Jongin,” she sighed, and Baekhyun felt her stomach drop, “Taemin asked her out after practice and now they're out to a late dinner.”

Baekhyun had to force herself to keep her voice light.

“So she said yes?”

“Yeah,” Sehun huffed, slouching down further until her neck was bent at a severe angle and her hips weren't even on the couch anymore.

“So she likes him, then?” Baekhyun pressed and wanted to kick herself for being unable to _shut up_.

Sehun looked at her like she was stupid.

“Yeah? Why else would she agree to date him?”

Baekhyun tried to laugh, “Maybe for his money,” she joked, but the joke didn't even really make sense, “I just asked because she seemed like she was on the fence about him, so...”

Fortunately, Sehun seemed consumed enough by her own misfortune (if one could even really call it that) that she didn't notice Baekhyun's strange behavior.

“Yeah, well,” Sehun grumbled as she pushed herself up and made toward her room.

Baekhyun opened her mouth to tell her she'd see her later, but ended up just watching Sehun go and feeling her stomach sink down to her feet.

Maybe- and she hated herself for even hoping- maybe Sehun had made a mistake. Maybe Jongin was going to let him down easy over dinner.

And then what? Come to her room and tell her that she wanted her instead?

Baekhyun audibly scoffed at herself.

This time, she'd truly lost her mind.

\---

Baekhyun's irrational hope was squashed when, later that night, Jongin had texted her to tell her that Taemin had asked her out.

Not wanting to be a dark cloud on what had clearly been a good day for Jongin (if the smiley emojis were anything to go by), Baekhyun had done her best to swallow down her own discontent.

 _See? s_ he'd texted back, _You're qualified for human interaction!_

Jongin had sent back more happy emojis and hearts that Baekhyun wanted to believe were directed at her rather than representative of Jongin's feelings for Taemin, but she knew she was being ridiculous.

Selfishly, she'd told Jongin that she had work to do, just so she wouldn't have to hear about her dinner date, or whatever it had been.

But the self-preservation was short-lived.

The good news was that Jongin seemed to still have just as much time for Baekhyun as she had before she'd gotten a boyfriend. The bad news was that Baekhyun now had the privilege (misfortune) of hearing about said boyfriend whenever she spent time with Jongin. Which was painful because it reminded Baekhyun of what she wanted but couldn't have, but also because it made her hate herself for being so selfish that she couldn't even be happy for one of her closest friends.

“I just don't want to hear about all the the romantic- i.e. not-romantic-at-all- things that Taemin does!” Baekhyun complained, head hanging off her futon as Chanyeol dug through her DVD collection to find a movie to watch while they ate the pizza they'd ordered.

“Like what?” Chanyeol asked and Baekhyun rolled her eyes.

“What does it matter?”

Chanyeol shrugged, “You're biased. I want to see if the things he does are actually romantic or not.”

“You're supposed to be on my side,” Baekhyun whined and Chanyeol laughed.

“Alright, sorry. I'm sure his idea of romantic is...” Chanyeol paused to think, “remembering to shower.”

Baekhyun cocked an eyebrow and then sighed, “Better.”

Chanyeol grinned, bounding over to the futon and leaping onto it violently enough that Baekhyun nearly slid off of it.

“Excuse me,” Baekhyun griped, trying to get herself comfortable again.

“You're excused,” Chanyeol happily told her, turning on the TV and laughing loudly at a commercial.

Later, she'd complain to Chanyeol about how she'd had to hear details about them _kissing._

 _So_ unfair.

\---

The dance showcase fell about one month into Jongin's relationship with Taemin. And apparently she really _was_ front and center for Taemin's piece- something that always had Jongin ducking her head with flushed cheeks, and had Sehun grumbling about favoritism and _why was the world out to get her_?

Baekhyun thought about inviting Chanyeol along, but then realized that the other girl would probably just make commentary about Jongin's ass and then ask Baekhyun how Jongin's ass made her feel or something, so she decided against it.

Instead, she ended up sitting in the dark auditorium with Zitao, who was eager to see Sehun perform- babbling about the costumes and routines that Sehun had told her about.

Baekhyun had seen Jongin do small movements that she'd assumed were from her dance routines when they were standing around- Jongin seemingly unable to help herself from moving. But she'd never really seen her dance. So, despite her apprehension at having to actually see Taemin in person for the first time (she'd just seen many pictures on Jongin's phone up until then), she was looking forward to getting to see what Jongin worked so hard at.

The stage lights came on to reveal what appeared to be all of the male members of the dance team. Even though she'd never met him, Baekhyun located Taemin easily- the kid slender and lanky with hair that flopped over his eyes. He was a good dancer- that much couldn't be denied. But Baekhyun couldn't help the way her figurative hackles rose.

“That's Taemin?” she hissed to Zitao, trying to covertly point in the dark, “He's good, but-”

A quick glance at Zitao's face had Baekhyun sinking back into her chair and trying to belatedly play it cool. Zitao was smirking at her, like she knew exactly what Baekhyun was thinking.

“You're hotter,” Zitao whispered to her, snickering, and Baekhyun felt her cheeks burn.

Had it been Sehun that she'd made the comment to, Sehun probably wouldn't have noticed. But Zitao was pretty perceptive, so naturally, she'd seen right through her.

“But really,” Zitao went on softly, “You are.”

Baekhyun snorted quietly, “Thanks.”

Zitao beamed.

“And you're hotter than Joonmyun,” Baekhyun added with amusement, and Zitao scoffed.

“Obviously.”

Baekhyun muffled a laugh in her hand as Zitao sat back in her seat and went back to watching the performance with her lips curved into a smile.

The boys finished their bit and the girls replaced them on stage, which had Baekhyun sitting up straight as her eyes started searching for Jongin's form.

She spotted Sehun first- her string bean body standing out, but not keeping her from dancing amazingly well.

But then her eyes fell on Jongin and she couldn't focus on Sehun any longer.

The way Jongin moved was mesmerizing- body so fluid and yet precise. Baekhyun had imagined that Jongin was a good dancer since the other girl was a dance major as well as on the dance team, but she hadn't been prepared for this.

Unlike the shy, cute girl she knew, the Jongin on stage was confident and demanded attention- attention that she would definitely get with how talented she was. Her lips were pulled into a smirk and her eyes seemed to burn with power. It was a side of Jongin that Baekhyun had never seen, and she found herself just as entranced with this Jongin as the one she called her friend.

Baekhyun watched the rest of the performances with baited breath and her heart in her throat- the showcase only serving to enhance the feelings she was already trying to squash down.

When the lights came back on after the dancers had all taken their bows, she felt a little breathless.

“Let's go,” Zitao urged her, grabbing her wrist and dragging her toward one of the doors that led backstage, “I told Sehun that we'd meet them here.”

After a few minutes of waiting (and Zitao taking selcas), Sehun came through the door, looking immediately to Zitao as though she was waiting for her take on the performance.

Maybe Zitao had a chance after all.

“Did you like it?” Sehun asked eagerly, accepting the hug Zitao readily offered.

“You were amazing,” Zitao told her sincerely and Sehun's cheeks flushed as she giggled in embarrassment.

It was rare to see them not snarking at each other and it had Baekhyun smiling as she watched them.

But then the door opened again as Jongin stepped through, and Baekhyun's attention was stolen.

“You came!” Jongin exclaimed excitedly when she caught sight of Baekhyun, as though Baekhyun hadn't texted her an hour before the performance to tell her that she was going with Zitao.

“Of course I did,” she laughed, allowing Jongin to squeeze her happily around the middle.

“Did you enjoy it?” she asked nervously, back to being the timid girl that Baekhyun knew well, and the contrast was so stark, it was amusing.

“You were great, Jonginnie!” she said, feeling her heart swell at Jongin's grin, “Why didn't you tell me you were so good?”

Jongin giggled and shoved at her shoulder, her happiness making Baekhyun beam.

But then the door was opening again and Taemin stepped through, immediately going to Jongin's side and bending a bit to rest his chin on her shoulder.

The giddy smile Jongin shot him had Baekhyun's stomach dropping to her feet as she tried hard not to let her displeasure show on her face.

“Baekhyun,” Jongin said, “This is Taemin. Taemin, this is Baekhyun.”

“Nice to meet you,” Taemin greeted her, his smile making him look younger than he was.

“You too,” Baekhyun replied, hoping her smile didn't look as strained as it felt, “You were really good.”

“Thanks!” Taemin grinned, leaning into Jongin's side and making Baekhyun want to push him off.

“Wasn't Taemin's piece great?” Jongin prompted, gazing at Taemin proudly.

Baekhyun swallowed against the frustration in her throat.

“It was,” she agreed, glancing over to see Zitao teasing Sehun and making her laugh. She felt an irrational stab of jealousy.

“You ready to go?” Taemin asked Jongin, tugging playfully on her arm.

Baekhyun looked down at her phone to hide her frown. She had been hoping that she could offer to buy Jongin some congratulatory ice cream or something, but apparently that wasn't going to happen.

“We're gonna go back to Taemin's dorm,” Jongin announced to their group and Baekhyun felt her heart sink even further. She did _not_ want to think about what their plans for the evening were.

Sehun made a sound that was probably supposed to be a wolf-whistle of some sort which had Jongin blushing. Taemin, infuriatingly, just smiled easily, and Baekhyun wanted to hit him.

“See you guys later,” Jongin told them, starting to follow Taemin as he peeled away from their little circle, “Thanks for coming, Baek!”

Baekhyun sent her an exaggerated grin and thumbs up that Jongin laughing even as she walked away, leaving Baekhyun with the flirtatious pair of roommates and an unhappily churning stomach.

She should have kept her feelings under control. This was stupid. Jongin and Taemin were dating and had been dating for a month. Baekhyun had no claim over Jongin. She had no right to be feeling so disappointed.

Zitao briefly turned her attention to Baekhyun, but Baekhyun didn't need her sympathy. She was fine.

“Shall we?” Baekhyun asked, voice forcefully bright, “How about I treat you guys to some ice cream?”

“Seriously?” Sehun asked, looking at Baekhyun like she was expecting there to be a catch.

Baekhyun rolled her eyes good naturedly and motioned for them to follow her out of the auditorium.

“Wow, best RA _ever_ ,” Sehun marveled when she realized that Baekhyun was serious.

“I'm glad you've finally seen the light,” Baekhyun teased, trying her best to ignore the heaviness in her heart.

\---

The following day, Baekhyun was working on her biology homework, only half concentrating and being pulled between being distracted by how amazing Jongin had been in the dance showcase and how much it had sucked to see her leave with Taemin when all she'd wanted to do was kiss her and tell her how proud of her she was.

When Baekhyun was halfway through her reading and once again, thinking about the way Jongin's full lips had been pulled to the side in a sexy smirk as she'd danced, she was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Expecting one of the girls from her floor, Baekhyun was surprised to see Jongin standing there and even more surprised by the look on Jongin's face.

Jongin was often timid and shy, but Baekhyun had never seen her looking like she wanted to pull into herself and hide like she did right then.

“What's wrong?” she immediately asked, ushering Jongin in as her mind raced- trying to think of what it could be that had her looking like that.

Jongin didn't answer, just sat down on Baekhyun's futon, kicked off her shoes, and curled up in a ball.

Baekhyun sat down next to her and put a hand on Jongin's knee, peering at her in concern, “Jongin? What's the matter?”

“I dunno,” she said, muffled from how she'd buried her face in her legs.

“Did something happen?” Baekhyun tried, not wanting to be too pushy, but not knowing what to do.

“Kind of,” Jongin hedged, and that really wasn't indicative of anything.

“Do you...want to talked about it?” she asked, petting Jongin's upper arm soothingly and getting more and more worried.

“Maybe,” she replied in a small voice before tucking her chin down again and resting her forehead on her knees.

“Whenever you're ready,” Baekhyun soothed, rubbing her back and waiting patiently while trying not to jump out of her own skin trying to figure out what had happened.

Finally, Jongin mumbled something so quietly that Baekhyun couldn't make it out.

“Hmm?” Baekhyun prompted, leaning in closer to hear.

“I said,” Jongin paused, taking a breath before letting it out and speaking again, “Taemin and I...did...things.”

That wasn't extremely descriptive, but it was something.

“What things?” she asked gently and Jongin took another deep breath.

“He...went down on me,” she said, ending nearly in a whisper.

Baekhyun's stomach swooped uncomfortably at that, but she pushed it aside. This wasn't about her feelings and her jealousy. This was about Jongin.

“Was it the first time he's done that?”

Jongin nodded.

“Has anyone done that for you before?”

Jongin shook her head.

“Did you not like it?” she tried, and Jongin made a sound that didn't indicate yes or no.

“I didn't...he couldn't make me...” she trailed off, looking at the floor.

“Come?” Baekhyun finished for her and Jongin flushed, but nodded.

“Was he upset with you that you didn't come?” Baekhyun guessed, trying to figure out exactly what had happened and why Jongin was so upset.

Jongin was quick to shake her head.

“No,” she told her, “I mean, he wanted to make me...obviously. But he wasn't angry with me.”

“It's perfectly normal not to have everything go perfectly your first time with someone,” Baekhyun told her, hoping that what she was saying was relevant to why Jongin was upset since she still hadn't really told her, “He needs to learn what you like and you need to figure out what you want from him.”

Jongin nodded, but still seemed upset.

“Is there more?” Baekhyun asked, and Jongin nodded.

“I also...”

“You sucked him off?” Baekhyun prompted, wanting to save Jongin the trouble of saying it if she was embarrassed, though Jongin seemed a little shocked at her straightforward phrasing.

Jongin shook her head.

“I...with my hand,” she explained and Baekhyun hummed that she understood, “He came, but...”

Baekhyun couldn't fill in the end of that sentence for her, so she just waited.

“I don't know,” Jongin whined and Baekhyun made hushing sounds, running her fingers through Jongin's hair like she knew she liked.

“Did he pressure you to do something you didn't want?” Baekhyun tried when Jongin didn't say any more. She remained calm on the outside, but the idea of that twerp making Jongin uncomfortable made Baekhyun want to go rip his dick off.

“No,” Jongin told her and Baekhyun felt some of her anger fade, “I wanted to do it. Or...I thought I did...”

“Have you ever done that before with anyone else?” Baekhyun asked and Jongin shook her head again.

“It felt...” Jongin huffed like she was annoyed at herself for not being able to explain her feelings properly, “It felt weird.”

Baekhyun was so close to asking if his dick felt weird, but fortunately, Jongin continued before she could.

“Like...kissing was fine, but doing _that_ with him felt...wrong.”

“Doing it felt wrong or doing it with _him_ felt wrong?” Baekhyun asked, because there was a big difference.

“With him?” Jongin said, sounding unsure, “I don't know.”

“Can you explain more?” Baekhyun tried, because her mind was getting all kinds of ideas and she needed to figure out if she was on the right track or not.

“Like...” Jongin paused, “I really like him and I thought I wanted to date him and be with him like that, but actually doing it felt so...weird, like, we shouldn't be doing that together.”

Baekhyun's pulse was thundering in her ears, but she didn't want to jump to any conclusions.

“What about it felt weird?” she prompted, fingers playing with Jongin's hair and scratching at her scalp.

“Just like...” Jongin's eyebrows furrowed, “Like seeing him like that. Seeing him when he...came,” she flushed again, “And hearing him moan. It was like, I felt like I shouldn't be seeing those things. Or hearing those things. It felt so _wrong._ I don't know. I know that sounds so weird.”

“No, it doesn't” Baekhyun assured her, and tried to think of a way to phrase her next question so Jongin wouldn't get offended, “Have you...” she stopped and then decided to just barrel through, “Have you ever thought about the possibility that you might not like men in a romantic way?”

Baekhyun's fingers stopped carding through Jongin's hair and she held her breath as she waited for Jongin to answer. She was terrified that Jongin would react with disgust or anger. Both would hurt.

It was a long moment before Jongin said anything and Baekhyun thought she was about to have a panic attack.

“No...?” Jongin finally answered, looking at Baekhyun questioningly, “I've never...?”

Baekhyun let out the breath she was holding and decided that it was now or never. She might be wrong about her suspicions, but in case she was right, she wanted to be able to help Jongin sort out her own feelings. Even if she ran the risk of Jongin getting freaked out and never talking to her again.

“Can I tell you a story about me in high school?” she asked, wondering if Jongin was already connecting the dots.

Jongin nodded, looking at her curiously.

Baekhyun braced herself and dove right in.

“My junior year in high school, I started dating my first real boyfriend,” she began, “His name was Yixing and I really liked him. We were really close, so when it came time to take the next step in the relationship, I didn't hesitate at all because I trusted him. And because I had needs, let's be honest, so sexual acts with my boyfriend sounded like a good idea.”

Baekhyun let out a nervous laugh and was relieved when Jongin's lips quirked in a smile.

“So, anyway, his parents were going to be gone all day one Saturday, so he picked me up and we went and got lunch- which I barely ate because I was nervous- and then went back to his house. We went to his room, got undressed, and laid in his bed.”

Jongin was listening intently, though she seemed a little embarrassed to be hearing the intimate details of Baekhyun's past sex life. It was important though, so Baekhyun continued.

“He fingered me while I jerked him off and I just couldn't stop thinking about how fucking weird it was. Here was this guy whom I really liked and joked around with and played video games with and I was holding his cock and I kept thinking, _am I really the one who should be doing this?_ He finished and the image of his face when he came stuck with me and bugged me for days afterward. I felt like I'd seen something I shouldn't have, like you said.

“He insisted on finishing me off as well, but I was too nervous and confused at that point, so it took forever, and I had to close my eyes and think about the things I thought of while masturbating in my own bed to finally come. But I remember showering later that night when I got home and thinking about how I'd just seen this boy come and I was so inexplicably freaked out by it. I definitely wasn't afraid of sex or weirded out by it or anything, so I couldn't figure out why what we'd done _bugged_ me so much.

“Then, like a week later, I was watching this movie with my friends, and there was a pretty intense sex scene. They knew vaguely about what had happened with Yixing and I, so they were teasing me about it and saying we were like the couple on the screen. I hadn't said anything about the things that were bothering me to my friends, but I couldn't help but compare my experiences to what I was watching. I was trying to watch the man and see if it freaked me out to see him have sex like it had when I was with Yixing. And it didn't freak me out, but I realized that I didn't care about the man at all. It wasn't like O _h my god I've seen something I shouldn't have_. It was more like _Please put on your clothes. I have no interest in your ass, sir._ ”

Jongin huffed out a laugh and Baekhyun found herself chuckling nervously before sobering in order to tell the final part of the story.

“But the thing was, I kept watching the woman instead. Like, I couldn't tear my eyes away. Which, at first, I just brushed off entirely. But after my friends left and I was alone, trying to fall asleep, it kind of hit me that there was a really good reason why I wasn't interested in Yixing sexually. I panicked a little, but I just kept coming back to the same conclusion no matter how many times I went over it in my head. I realized that I felt uncomfortable being intimate with Yixing because I wasn't interested in men like that.”

Baekhyun could see the way Jongin's eyes had gotten wider at conclusion of the story and she was ready for Jongin to sneer at her and storm out.

Instead, Jongin gaped for what felt like forever before she finally spoke.

“You're...a lesbian?”

Baekhyun nodded and Jongin just stared at her for another interim that felt way too long.

Baekhyun hastened to say something to make her less freaked out, “I'm not saying that you are!” she assured her, “I'm just saying...it's something to think about.”

Jongin nodded slowly, though she was still looking at Baekhyun like she thought she might tell her that she had been kidding.

Baekhyun told her no such thing.

“So...” Baekhyun cleared her throat and chuckled nervously, “I hope that was more helpful than...scarring.”

“I'm gonna...I need to...think.”

Jongin stood up and Baekhyun followed suit, trying to discern whether that was a tactful excuse to leave the weird lesbian's room or not.

She must have looked panicked because Jongin shot her a small smile.

“Thanks for listening to me and not laughing at me,” she said to her and Baekhyun grinned back, relieved.

“Of course! Let me know if I can do anything else or...” she laughed, still feeling insanely vulnerable despite Jongin seemingly not being disgusted.

“I will,” Jongin told her, letting herself out of the room, “Thanks.”

With the door closed and her dorm room to herself again, Baekhyun collapsed back onto the futon with a whine.

She really hoped that hadn't been a mistake.

\---

It was normal for Baekhyun to go a few days without seeing Jongin, but she couldn't help that it made her worried this time- afraid that Jongin was avoiding her, afraid that Jongin thought she was disgusting, afraid that Jongin was too uncomfortable with her sexuality to be her friend.

After two days of no contact, Baekhyun found herself reacting every time her cell phone buzzed- anxiously grabbing it and hoping for a text from Jongin. Every time she was disappointed.

Finally, when she passed a miniature Schnauzer tied up outside the convenience store across the street from campus, Baekhyun took a picture and sent it to Jongin in a text along with a smiley face.

She received a reply when she was out to lunch with Chanyeol, holding up her hand and telling Chanyeol to be quiet so she could read the response even though it was two words long.

_Aww cute! ^^_

“What does that mean?” Baekhyun demanded, leaning across the table to hold her phone under Chanyeol's nose.

“Uh,” Chanyeol looked at her like she'd lost her mind, “I think it means the dog is cute?”

“Well, _duh_ ,” Baekhyun rolled her eyes, “But what does it _mean_?”

Chanyeol blinked at her, bewildered, “I don't think I understand the question.”

Baekhyun made a sound of frustration and slumped back in her chair.

“Was she just humoring me?” she asked, “Or do you think she's really okay with the fact that I like women?”

Chanyeol's mouth hung open unattractively as she seemed to search for something to say.

“I think she likes dogs,” Chanyeol finally said and Baekhyun groaned, dramatically burying her face in her arms on the table.

The thing was, even though Jongin had responded in a normal way to the dog picture, that was where the text conversation ended.

Usually, Jongin would ask her how she was or tell her some short story about her day, but no matter how many more times Baekhyun checked her phone that afternoon, there were no additional messages from Jongin.

Though she did receive a selca of Chanyeol making a strange face accompanied by no explanation or text. But that was pretty normal.

The next day was the day that Baekhyun and Jongin had their shared class, and Baekhyun was just as eager to see Jongin as she was nervous that Jongin would ignore her. Or worse- not even show up.

But much to Baekhyun's relief, Jongin walked through the door a few minutes before class started and sat down in her usual seat next to her, shooting her a shy smile that had Baekhyun's heart fluttering even as she forcefully swallowed around her nerves.

“So...how's your day been?” she asked, watching as Jongin pulled her lime green and blue striped notebook from her bag.

She couldn't exactly ask Jongin any of the things she wanted to ask her, like if she was okay with Baekhyun's sexuality, if she'd thought about what Baekhyun had told her, how things were with her and Taemin, if she was feeling any better...

“It's been fine,” Jongin told her with a smile that looked anxious around the edges, “I have a history test tomorrow. So I can't go to coffee after class.”

Baekhyun felt her own smile waver. Because while it was a totally valid excuse, she couldn't help but worry that it would be the beginning of a long line of excuses that Jongin would give her until Baekhyun stopped trying to hang out with her at all.

“No problem,” she assured her, not wanting Jongin to see how afraid she was that she'd ruined everything, “Studying is important.”

Well, no shit. She wanted to roll her eyes at herself.

“Thanks,” Jongin said, but Baekhyun wasn't sure what she was thanking her for, “How was your day?”

“Pretty uneventful,” she replied, “I saw Sehun in the hall earlier. Apparently she asked Joonmyun for help with her political science homework. You'd think he proposed by how excited she is.”

Jongin huffed out a laugh behind her hand and Baekhyun felt her heart warm to see Jongin's eyes crease in a genuine smile.

“She texted me about that this morning,” she confessed with a giggle.

By the time class actually started, Baekhyun was feeling a little better, but she couldn't help the twist of anxiety when Jongin bid her goodbye at the end of class and hastily slipped out of the room, leaving her to watch her go with a longing that she shouldn't have been feeling.

\---

When she hadn't heard from Jongin at all since their film class two days prior, Baekhyun was pretty sure that she'd fucked everything up. Maybe Jongin didn't hate her and maybe she wasn't completely freaked out, but she didn't seem to want to be friends like they had been. It was something that Baekhyun was going to have to live with.

“How are you two doing this fine day?” Baekhyun asked when Zitao opened the door to hers and Sehun's room.

“Please make Sehun stop talking about Joonmyun,” she complained with a roll of her eyes.

“He helped me for a whole half hour!” Sehun gushed from inside, stars in her eyes.

Baekhyun shot Zitao a sympathetic look as she stepped into the room.

“So, Joonmyun aside, how are things?” she prompted, hip leaning against the wall and clipboard held under her arm.

“Oh!” Sehun sat up from where she was sprawled o her bed, “Do you know why Jongin broke up with Taemin?”

Baekhyun gaped, inundated with too many emotions at once to know how she was supposed to react to that.

“Jongin broke up with Taemin?” she asked, “When?”

“You didn't know?”

Sehun looked genuinely surprised, so Baekhyun took that to mean that Jongin hadn't said anything to Sehun about Baekhyun. At least she wasn't telling people that she didn't want to be friends with her anymore...

Baekhyun shook her head and Sehun nodded, seeming pleased to be the most informed person in the room on that particular topic.

“Yeah, she broke up with him yesterday after practice,” Sehun told her, “He seemed really shocked, but I can't blame him. I was surprised too. Everyone was.”

Baekhyun could feel her heart racing. Could she have broken up with him because she realized that she liked women? Or maybe she just realized that she didn't feel that way about him...

“She didn't say anything to you?” Sehun asked and Baekhyun shook her head again.

“I didn't even know they'd broken up,” Baekhyun reminded her.

“Weird,” Sehun observed.

“Weird,” Zitao echoed, but the look she was shooting Baekhyun made it seem like she didn't think it was weird at all.

“Well,” she cleared her throat, “I'll be going. Sehun, I'm limiting you to saying Joonmyun's name five times a day.”

“What?” Sehun squawked, “You can't do that. I'll say his name as much as I want. Joonmyun, Joonmyun, Joonmyun, Joonmyun, Joonmyun...”

“Sorry, Zitao,” Baekhyun shrugged as Zitao scowled, “I tried.”

With the door closed behind her and her thoughts seeming to echo through the empty hall, Baekhyun was dying to text Jongin and ask about Taemin. But it wasn't her business. Not really. If Jongin wanted to tell her, she would.

But that didn't stop Baekhyun from laying awake for two hours that night, trying to work out what Jongin was thinking to no avail. \--- A week after Baekhyun had revealed her sexuality to Jongin, she was woken up at a little after ten to insistent knocking at her door.

Ridiculously, her first thought was that it was Sehun coming to tell her about Joonmyun. It wouldn't have been surprising, anyway.

But it wasn't Sehun. It was Jongin, looking just as unsure as the week before, but less upset.

“Oh,” Baekhyun said dumbly, still blinking sleep from her eyes.

“Can I come in?” Jongin asked, sounding worried, like maybe Baekhyun would tell her _no_.

“Yeah!” Baekhyun hastily stepped back and motioned Jongin inside, “Sorry. I'm still asleep. Well. Half-asleep.”

Baekhyun closed the door and followed Jongin to the futon, reminded so much of the last time Jongin had been in her apartment. As she began to wake up more, she started worrying that maybe Jongin was there to tell her that they couldn't be friends anymore.

Sitting down and making sure to keep at least a foot and a half between them, Baekhyun watched Jongin expectantly- all the while unable to ignore how cute Jongin looked with her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, no makeup on her face, and in a pair of workout shorts and a long-sleeved t-shirt in canary yellow. Baekhyun wanted to tug Jongin to her bed and curl up next to her for another couple hours of sleep.

“I broke up with Taemin,” Jongin blurted out, watching Baekhyun carefully for a reaction.

Baekhyun nodded, unsure of the correct response since she was kind of biased about the situation.

“Yeah, Sehun told me,” she said, wanting so much to ask Jongin what it meant. Did she break up with him because she liked women?

Of course, even if that _was_ the case and Jongin really _did_ like women, it didn't mean that she liked _Baekhyun_. That was a major leap in logic to take from Jongin breaking up with her boyfriend.

Jongin nodded and took a deep breath, looking away from Baekhyun's face to study the coffee table.

“I...thought a lot in the last week about what you said before,” she began, glancing up at Baekhyun as though to make sure she still had her attention, before she quickly looked away again, “And I...did some research.”

Jongin's cheeks flushed at that and Baekhyun had a moment of panic where she thought that Jongin meant that she had gone and hooked up with some girl to test the theory that she was gay.

“Research?” she asked, bracing herself for the explanation.

Jongin's blush darkened as she looked down at her hands in her lap, “I...on the internet...I looked up some...videos.”

Baekhyun couldn't help the relieved laugh that escaped at the admission.

“You mean porn, Jongin?” she asked, chuckling, “Did you watch lesbian porn?”

“Maybe,” Jongin mumbled and Baekhyun wanted to coo at how adorable she was.

But Jongin looked humiliated enough to want the floor to swallow her, so Baekhyun took pity on her.

“Don't be embarrassed,” she said, “You think I've never watched lesbian porn?”

Jongin didn't answer, so Baekhyun nudged her in the shoulder playfully.

“It's been a while, but that's just because I prefer to read my porn, to be honest.”

Jongin looked up, surprised, and Baekhyun laughed, watching as Jongin's shoulders relaxed.

“So, what did you find out from watching porn?” Baekhyun asked, feeling a little lighter now that it appeared that Jongin wasn't there to end their friendship.

“I think,” Jongin swallowed, “I think you were right.”

Baekhyun waited for Jongin to clarify that, because while she may have asked if Jongin had ever thought about the prospect of not liking men in a romantic way, she'd never actually told Jongin that she thought she was a lesbian.

Jongin seemed to understand that Baekhyun was waiting for her to actually say it, so she cleared her throat and said, “I like women. Not men.”

Baekhyun found herself smiling. Not because that meant that she could maybe have a chance with Jongin (though that was, admittedly, a plus), but because Jongin had been able to figure out what she wanted and then admit it out loud. Baekhyun had been there, so she knew that that was not the easiest thing to do.

Jongin, however, still looked terrified of what she'd just admitted and ready to run out of the room in shame.

“I know it seems scary,” Baekhyun soothed, “But the hardest part is over. The part with dicks is over.”

Baekhyun was pleased to see Jongin's lips quirk slightly in amusement at that, but she still looked so vulnerable that Baekhyun couldn't help but lean over and wrap her arms around her comfortingly.

At first, Jongin tensed in her hold and Baekhyun panicked, thinking that Jongin was freaked out by her hugging her. So she tried to pull back, but then Jongin's arms were latched onto her, keeping her from moving away. Baekhyun found that she didn't mind a clinging Jongin at all. Relaxing into the hug, Baekhyun was so busy inhaling the fruity shampoo that Jongin used that she almost missed the words that Jongin mumbled into her shoulder. Almost.

“I've been thinking a lot about you, too,” was what she said and Baekhyun slowly pulled back from the embrace to look Jongin in the eye to see if she'd meant what Baekhyun thought she meant, but Jongin wouldn't look at her.

“Jongin?” she asked, not looking away from Jongin's flushed face.

“Nevermind,” Jongin tried to brush it off, but Baekhyun wasn't having it.

“Uh-uh,” she chided, “Finish that thought.”

“I just...” Jongin fidgeted, “Now that I realized that I like girls...I realized that I like...you. I actually...because of how I realized feel for you...that's how I knew.”

Baekhyun gaped, heart pounding and mind racing. She wanted nothing more than to close the distance between them and kiss Jongin like she'd been tempted to so many times. But she had to be responsible.

“As much as I am not opposed to that at all,” she started, watching Jongin's face even though she still wasn't looking at her, “You've _just_ broken up with Taemin and you've _just_ realized that you like women. Now is probably not the time to be jumping into something.”

Jongin's shoulders drooped and Baekhyun internally cursed herself out for doing the right thing, even though she knew that doing what she really wanted would have been selfish.

“I'm also a convenient place to direct your feelings since I'm a lesbian and we're close,” she went on, hoping with every fiber of her being that that wasn't the case, “So I think you should think on that for a little longer, okay?”

Jongin looked like she thought she was being rejected, which could not have been further from the truth, so Baekhyun reached over and nudged Jongin's chin so she'd look at her.

“I'm not telling you to forget about it or that I don't feel the same, okay?” she clarified, making sure to keep eye contact, “I just don't want you to rush into something and regret it. So let's just put that thought on hold for a little bit while you just get more comfortable with everything you've just learned about yourself.”

Baekhyun really kind of wished that she didn't have morals, right then.

But Jongin finally seemed to understand what she was saying.

“Okay,” she nodded, smiling at Baekhyun hesitantly, “You're right.”

Baekhyun still wanted to kiss her, but no! She'd just finished telling Jongin they should wait. They should _wait_.

“I'm always right,” Baekhyun teased, happy to break the tension and see Jongin laugh freely.

Jongin leaned back and relaxed, seeming to be lost in thought. For once, Baekhyun decided it was best not to fill the silence, and instead let Jongin think.

After a moment, she looked over at Baekhyun and asked, “What did you do?”

Baekhyun tilted her head in question, “Hm?”

“After you found out you liked girls,” Jongin clarified, “What'd you do then?”

“Nothing, really,” Baekhyun admitted, “I mean, I told my best friend and then I told my parents a few months later. But that was it. There wasn't really anything to _do_. I didn't take out an ad in the newspaper or anything.”

Jongin snorted. “But like,” she chewed on her lip, “Did you...experiment?”

“After I got to college,” she told her, “There wasn't exactly a large pool of lesbians to choose from in my town.”

“Who did you experiment with?” Jongin asked, eyes wide, before she seemed to catch herself, “I mean, you don't have to tell me.”

Baekhyun grinned at Jongin's curiosity.

“It's fine,” she laughed, “Chanyeol and I started hooking up a couple months into first semester last year.”

“Chanyeol?” Jongin's eyes got even wider, “Is she...?”

“She's bi,” Baekhyun explained and Jongin nodded in understanding.

“Wait,” Jongin's brows furrowed, “You said that you started hooking up last year. So are you still...?”

Baekhyun knew she was a horrible person for being pleased by the obvious jealousy she could see on Jongin's face.

"No," she told her honestly and watched the tension in Jongin's forehead smooth out, "We stopped hooking up a couple months ago."

It was clear that Jongin was dying to ask why, but wasn't sure if she should.

Baekhyun knew that she could just not say anything, or she could lie about the reason. But at that point, she decided to just fuck it, and tell Jongin the truth.

"We stopped because I started having feelings for someone," she told her, and okay. Maybe she was enjoying watching Jongin squirm just a little.

"Oh." Jongin looked like she thought she knew where Baekhyun was going with that, but didn't want to be presumptuous.

"In the interest of you taking the time to decide what you really want, I won't reveal the person's identity," she told her, lips curved in a playful smirk so her meaning was impossible to miss.

Jongin's face broke out in a grin that Baekhyun couldn't help but mirror.

But for as giddy as she felt, she _had_ just woken up, so she couldn't stifle the yawn that crawled up her throat.

"Oh! I woke you up!" Jongin remembered, looking regretful, "I can go, so you can sleep."

Baekhyun shook her head, standing up from the futon and reaching out to hold onto Jongin's wrist even as she yawned again, "Just come back to bed with me."

Jongin's eyes widened comically.

"To sleep," Baekhyun clarified with a laugh, smiling fondly as Jongin blushed, but agreed, getting up and letting Baekhyun drag her over to her bed.

They stayed in bed until after noon with Baekhyun's face pressed against Jongin's neck and their legs tangled beneath the blankets.

\---

True to her word, Baekhyun allowed Jongin to come into herself and take the time to figure out what she really wanted. Even though there were many times she wanted so much to just lean over and kiss Jongin. And knowing that Jongin's wouldn't have rejected her made it even harder to resist.

But even though they weren't acting on the feelings it appeared they shared, there was still an undercurrent of possibility between them that had Baekhyun feeling giddy every time Jongin smiled at her, every time her phone buzzed with a text from the younger girl, and every time Jongin showed up at her room.

Aside from the knowledge that the two shared about what could be, their friendship remained mostly the same. They still went to coffee together after class, they still worked on assignments together, and they still lazed around Baekhyun's dorm room, procrastinating on the homework they were supposed to be doing. But Baekhyun found that she and Jongin were spending noticeably more time together. It wasn't a conscious decision, but the usual two or three days a week that they'd see each other quickly turned into five or six. Not that either of them were complaining. Baekhyun quite liked having the promise of getting to cuddle with Jongin in front of a movie as a reward for getting through her classes.

Moreover, Baekhyun noticed Jongin leaning into her more often when she was sleepy and grabbing hold of her hand or arm when they were walking. Jongin had always had her moments of physical affection, random outbursts when she'd be so overwhelmed that she'd suddenly cling onto Baekhyun as she laughed, but now the touches were constant, and Baekhyun found herself expecting them and initiating them as well.

"How are my most...memorable freshmen doing today?" Baekhyun asked, stepping into Sehun's and Zitao's room and immediately gravitating to where Jongin was sitting in Sehun's desk chair.

"Memorable?" Sehun asked, unsure of whether that was a compliment or not.

"Of course," Zitao said airily from her side of the room, "Who would be more memorable than us?"

"So, do I need to write anything in my reports about roommate fights or general debauchery, or are you guys good?" Baekhyun asked, putting her arm out for Jongin to grab onto without even thinking about it.

"Debauchery, maybe," Zitao told her with a smirk, and Baekhyun raised an eyebrow in doubt.

"Aside from you modeling bras, I don't think there's really anything at that level of scandal happening here," Baekhyun teased, grinning when Jongin and Sehun laughed as Zitao pouted.

Jongin laced their fingers together and Baekhyun squeezed her hand affectionately.

"So, no complaints today?" she asked, _maybe_ stalling because she didn't want to take her hand back quite yet.

"Nothing, but the lack of debauchery," Zitao said blandly as Sehun eyed their linked hands in interest.

"Well, I can't fix that," she told her, enjoying the light touches of Jongin's other hand as she played with Baekhyun's watch.

"Shame," Zitao sighed.

"Okay, I have to finish checking in on everyone," she said regretfully and felt Jongin tighten her hold on her hand in a silent plea not to leave. Baekhyun felt her heart swell at how unfairly adorable Jongin was.

"I'll stop by before I go home," Jongin told her, letting go and looking up at her as though she might have discouraged her.

Baekhyun grinned at her in answer and Jongin smiled back, cheeks flushing lightly.

"Good luck with the debauchery, Zitao," Baekhyun called as she let herself out.

Zitao grumbled something is response, but Baekhyun still heard Sehun ask Jongin, "Is there something going on with you and Baek?"

It sounded like she was kind of kidding, but Jongin's answer had Baekhyun's stomach flipping gleefully.

With a smile in her voice, Jongin had shyly answered, "Maybe."

\---

Doing nothing with Jongin was becoming one of Baekhyun's past times. Just having Jongin's fingers loosely wrapped around her wrist was enough to have Baekhyun's lips pulling up in a smile.

So Baekhyun couldn't think of anything she'd rather be doing on that Sunday afternoon than relaxing together in sweatpants and worn t-shirts with no makeup and un-styled hair. She was enjoying the way Jongin was slumped over on the couch in order to rest her head against Baekhyun's shoulder despite the fact that she was taller than her. Baekhyun was running her fingers through Jongin's hair and only half paying attention to the movie. She'd seen it before and Jongin's warmth against her side was a lot more interesting, anyway.

Baekhyun was getting so relaxed that she thought she could fall asleep when Jongin abruptly sat up and paused the movie.

"D'you hafta pee?" she asked sleepily, curling up in the warm space on the futon where Jongin had been sitting before.

"Baekhyun," Jongin said, and her seriousness had Baekhyun paying attention, "It's been a month since I broke up with Taemin and a month since I realized...I like girls. More importantly, it's been a month since I realized that I like _you_."

Jongin's cheeks were pink, but she was looking right at Baekhyun- making sure to keep eye contact when she spoke because this was obviously something important.

"Before, you said I should wait and see what I really want," Jongin went on, looking determined, "And I just wanted you to know that I haven't changed my mind. I want you."

At that admission, Jongin's gaze briefly strayed as she took a deep, nervous breath before looking back and continuing.

"I really, really like you," Jongin told her, "And I've just ended up liking you more and more since the last time we talked about it. It feels kind of like we're already dating? I mean, a little. Not...entirely, but...I really like it. And I want to date you for real. If you want to."

Jongin looked worried that Baekhyun might (as if she could possibly) turn her down, but still she held Baekhyun's gaze- determined.

And truthfully, yeah, Baekhyun probably should have used her words to tell Jongin that just a look from her made her heart soar and that she had to stop herself from kissing Jongin multiple times everyday and how far she'd already fallen, but with Jongin's dark eyes on her and all of the feelings that she'd been keeping bottled up- only spilling over slightly at the clasp of hands or the exchange of a secret smile- she couldn't get any of that out. Instead, she just lunged forward and connected their lips in a kiss that had been a long time coming- Jongin's grunt of surprise absorbed by Baekhyun's eagerly pressing lips.

After the initial shock of having Baekhyun suddenly on her (Baekhyun could imagine that being pretty jarring if it was unexpected), Jongin began to kiss back- timid and sweet and everything that Baekhyun would have expected from their first kiss.

The chaste kiss had Baekhyun's stomach fluttering and her head spinning- Jongin's hands holding onto her arms tightly and her pulse jumping beneath the thin skin of her neck where Baekhyun had a hand resting.

“Does this mean we're dating?” Jongin asked when they parted softly, eyelids droopy and breathing slightly labored from the rush of feelings alone.

Baekhyun chuckled, tucking a lock of stray hair behind Jongin's ear and resting her forehead against Jongin's.

“Yeah, we're dating. We should definitely be dating,” she confirmed, and Jongin let out a quiet laugh on a puff of air that hit Baekhyun's chin, her warm hand coming up to cup Baekhyun's cheek.

Their lips connected again, softly at first, but Baekhyun wanted too much to allow the lip lock stay entirely chaste.

Jongin gasped at the first brush of tongue against her lower lip, allowing Baekhyun to slowly slide their tongues together- heady and sensual.

Baekhyun pulled Jongin closer, able to feel her shiver of pleasure against her body, and couldn't stop her own quiet groan into Jongin's mouth.

It wasn't long before the slow tangle of tongues had turned desperate- lips sliding slick against each other with saliva and breath harsh against each other's skin. Baekhyun leaned back and pulled Jongin down with her, feeling a fresh surge of arousal at the way Jongin was hovering over her and meeting every touch and kiss she initiated.

She'd been waiting for this for so long, wanting to run her hands over Jongin's sides and lick into her mouth. She'd been wanting to feel Jongin's breathing increase because of her and know that Jongin wanted this just as much as she did.

Giving Jongin time to protest, Baekhyun slid her hands under Jongin's t-shirt to get at her smooth skin- feeling Jongin's abs jump at the touch.

By the time she was cupping Jongin's breasts through her cotton bra- nipples peaking under her palms and rubbing against the fabric- Jongin was noticeably rocking against Baekhyun's thigh. And Baekhyun could literally think of nothing hotter than Jongin being so turned on by her lips and hands that she needed to rub herself against something (Baekhyun, in this case) to find relief.

She was soaking wet, herself, and knowing that she wasn't the only one wanting aroused her even more.

When the movements of Jongin's hips got more urgent and Baekhyun's own panties were so slick, they weren't providing any friction no matter what way she squirmed, Baekhyun pulled back from the kiss to gasp, "Jongin, can I eat you out?"

She hadn't been able to stop thinking about it. Not since Jongin had told her that Taemin had done it and and had been unable to make her come. Ever since, she'd wanted nothing more than to get between Jongin's legs and make her feel good.

But despite how eager she was, it occurred to her that this was Jongin's first lesbian experience, so she probably shouldn't rush it.

"Only if you want," she amended, pressing a line of kisses to Jongin's jaw, "We don't have to rush. Whatever you want."

But regardless, Baekhyun was going to have to change her underwear.

"I do want..." Jongin trailed off, stilling her hips and shuddering above Baekhyun, "If it's okay. I want you to."

Her pupils were blown but she looked worried, like maybe Baekhyun had changed her mind in the last ten seconds.

" _Fuck_ , Jongin," Baekhyun cursed, "I want to eat you out so bad."

Jongin let out a little, wrecked whimper at that, and Baekhyun pressed a quick kiss to her lips before crawling out from under Jongin and instructing her to sit up with her hips at the edge of the seat cushion.

Baekhyun knelt on the ground between her spread legs and looked up at Jongin's face- eyes dark, lips swollen, and mouth hanging open as she panted. It was unreal that all of it was for her. Because of her.

"You sure?" she asked, needing to know that Jongin was comfortable with everything that was happening. Her last sexual experience had left her disconcerted and anxious. She didn't want a repeat.

Jongin nodded, shifting so Baekhyun could pull her sweats and underwear down. Her legs came together slightly when her bottoms were left in a crumple on the ground, so Baekhyun made eye contact when she hooked her hands under Jongin's thighs to push them up, making sure that Jongin knew she could stop her at any time.

But she didn't stop her. Instead, she took the cue to balance her heels on he edge of the futon and hold her own thighs up and open.

With one hand on the back of Jongin's thigh, Baekhyun spread Jongin's lips with the index and middle fingers of her right hand. She could smell Jongin's arousal, not to mention see just how wet she was for her, and it was making her dizzy with want.

Glancing up at Jongin one more time to make sure she wasn't having second thoughts, Baekhyun leaned forward and licked lightly up Jongin's pussy.

The musky taste on her tongue and the gasp Jongin let out at the contact had Baekhyun's own arousal throbbing. She shifted so her heel was pressed against her crotch through her pants just for some pressure where she needed it.

However, now was not the time to worry about how much she needed to come. Now was all about Jongin and giving her the best orgasm of her life. And also about how much Baekhyun wanted to feel Jongin against her tongue while her taste slid down the back of her throat.

But it was mostly about Jongin's needs.

Lapping more decisively against Jongin's clit, Baekhyun listened to the sounds that Jongin made- groans and gasps and whines- to figure exactly what Jongin liked the most.

When she ran her tongue around Jongin's opening before plunging her tongue inside, arousal smearing around her lips and on her chin, Jongin let out an exclamation of surprise before pressing her hips up toward Baekhyun's face.

There was that little fear in the back of her head that maybe she wouldn't be able to make Jongin come either, but when she felt the way Jongin's muscles were contracting and her flesh was throbbing against her tongue, she knew that Jongin was getting close.

Rubbing her thumb insistently against Jongin's swollen clit, Baekhyun fucked her tongue into Jongin's opening- pulling more uncontrolled noises from Jongin's throat.

“ _Baek...hyun_ ,” Jongin gasped, choking on a moan, “I'm gonna-”

Baekhyun tongued at Jongin's slit as she increased the pressure against Jongin's clit and felt it as Jongin fell over the edge with a loud cry that Baekhyun kind of hoped could be heard from the hall.

Feeling Jongin's pussy contracting against her mouth and fingers as Jongin came for her was easily the sexiest thing that Baekhyun had ever experienced.

“ _Oh my god_ ,” Jongin whimpered when her orgasm eased up, hips still lightly twitching.

But Baekhyun wasn't done yet, thumb still circling Jongin's clit and tongue still sliding in and out of Jongin's opening.

“Baek,” Jongin complained, voice high and strung out, “Baek, it's too much.”

Baekhyun pulled her mouth back, but kept her thumb moving.

“I believe the universe owes you an orgasm,” she said, referring to Taemin's failed attempt, “And I am going to provide that for you.”

Jongin let out a disbelieving huff that quickly turned into a gasp when Baekhyun bent back down and took Jongin's clit between her lips and sucked.

Jongin yelped at the suction, muscles shaking and breathing picking up even more.

Sliding a slender finger into Jongin's body, Baekhyun started up a pulsing rhythm against Jongin's clit- tongue teasing the nub between her lips- and Jongin let out a wrecked sounding sob and abruptly came again.

Baekhyun eased her down this time, slowing her ministrations until Jongin had stopped twitching against her mouth and was slouched down on the couch bonelessly.

“So?” Baekhyun asked, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.

She pretty much knew it had been great, but she couldn't deny wanting to hear Jongin say it.

“Oh my _god_ ,” Jongin whined, pressing her face partially into the futon cushion.

“It's Baekhyun, actually,” she corrected cheekily, grinning at her own joke when Jongin opened her eyes to shoot her a look that ended in her laughing in a way that seemed to ask why on earth she was like this.

Baekhyun stood up, wincing when her knees cracked, and dropped onto the futon next to Jongin. She was still aroused as fuck, but didn't want to push Jongin to do something she wasn't comfortable with. Besides, getting to eat Jongin out had been her number one fantasy for quite a while. The memories of that would give her masturbation fodder for weeks.

Jongin shifted so she was leaning against Baekhyun and then tilted her head up for a kiss.

Pleased, Baekhyun pressed their lips together. She hadn't been sure if Jongin would want to kiss with Baekhyun's mouth tasting like her release, so it was a nice surprise when Jongin parted her lips and let Baekhyun tangle their tongues together again unhurriedly.

“I've wanted to do that for so long,” Baekhyun murmured against Jongin's lips, and Jongin smiled in response, “I couldn't stop thinking about making you come with my mouth for weeks.”

“I...” Jongin started and then paused, giggling nervously.

“Jongin, I just ate you out and made you come twice,” she laughed, “Whatever it is, you don't need to be embarrassed.”

“I...thought about your mouth when I...” she stopped again before barreling forward, “when I touched myself.”

“Shit, that's hot,” Baekhyun groaned appreciatively, connecting their lips again and kissing her just a bit more insistently that time.

“I can...do you,” Jongin offered against Baekhyun's lips, and there was nothing else she wanted more at that moment than for Jongin to get her off, but she really didn't want to put Jongin in a position where she felt like she _had_ to.

“You don't have to,” she told her, wondering if Jongin could tell how turned on she was from the breathiness of her voice.

“I want to though,” Jongin said to her, “I've just...I've never...”

“You really don't have to,” Baekhyun insisted, pressing a chaste kiss to Jongin's puffy lips.

“Maybe...the first time...I can use my fingers?” Jongin suggested, cheeks pink from just sating it, like she wasn't still naked from the waist down in Baekhyun's dorm room.

“You can do whatever you want,” Baekhyun said, feeling her body react to to the idea of Jongin's fingers on her despite her attempts not to get her hopes up.

“I want to finger you,” Jongin told her, sounding more sure of herself that time, and Baekhyun's pussy throbbed.

“ _Fuck_ ,” she shivered through a jolt of arousal, “Okay.”

Jongin paused, seeming to be assessing what she should do first.

“Where do you want me?” Baekhyun asked, and Jongin's eyes flashed with want at the phrasing.

“I can...” she bit her lip, “Can you take off your pants?”

Jongin blushed deeply at her own request, but Baekhyun was already shimmying out of her sweats and eagerly kicking them to the floor.

“Underwear too?” she asked and Jongin nodded, eyes glued to the way Baekhyun's fingers hooked under the elastic of her panties and pushed them down her legs.

“Lay down,” Jongin said thickly and Baekhyun complied, arousal mounting with every second.

Jongin sat with her feet tucked underneath her, watching every movement she made. But before she could get comfortable, Jongin's hands were on her hips, pulling her so her hips and butt were balanced on Jongin's thighs and her pelvis was tilted slightly up.

Baekhyun hadn't been expecting that, but she was absolutely not complaining, especially with the way Jongin was eying her pussy with want.

Jongin pushed her legs up so her knees were near her shoulders, and Baekhyun instinctively held on behind her knees to keep herself open for Jongin.

“Didja have this position in mind?” Baekhyun asked, teasing, and Jongin flushed.

“I want to see what I'm doing,” she defended.

“This'll do it, then,” Baekhyun joked, but she was literally trembling with arousal from just Jongin's eyes on her.

She might have _possibly_ had a thing for being on display, so being spread open like this and vulnerable to Jongin's gaze was already _wrecking_ her.

The first touch of Jongin's fingers had her gasping, hips jumping up, and body pulsing.

Jongin was looking at what she was doing with such concentration- brows furrowed and lower lip between her teeth- as she ran her middle finger along the length of Baekhyun's slit. She was impossibly wet by then, so the slide was so slick, and Baekhyun could feel the way she was dripping onto Jongin's thighs, but Jongin didn't seem concerned.

Circling her clit with her finger, Jongin looked up to check Baekhyun's reaction- focusing on her face.

“Is it good?” she asked, looking worried that she wouldn't be able to bring Baekhyun pleasure.

Baekhyun, on the other hand, was worried that she'd come too soon- wanting to enjoy the experience of Jongin's hands on her instead of coming like she'd never been touched before.

“Yeah,” she panted, unable to stop the way her pelvis was tilting up to get more contact, “It feels so fucking good, Jongin.”

Encouraged, Jongin added her pointer finger to the mix, tapping out a rhythm against Baekhyun's swollen clit that had her arching and crying out- the pleasure so intense it nearly hurt. It was overwhelming.

As much as she'd wanted to draw it out and really savor every second, it was becoming very obvious that she wasn't going to be able to last. Despite the fact that Jongin had _just_ started touching her. But just the act of eating Jongin out had Baekhyun so turned on that almost any contact against her clit would have had her coming in no time.

But this wasn't just _any_ contact. This was Jongin's fingers. And she'd fantasized about this more than she'd like to admit.

The pleasure was mounting and she couldn't remember getting worked up this quickly since the first time Chanyeol had ever used her mouth on her. But she was still pretty sure this was going to be the fastest she'd ever come with the combination of Jongin's determined fingers and her unwavering gaze on her body.

Jongin started rubbing rapidly at her clit and the tension in her body gathered so quickly she nearly curled in on herself from the stimulation.

“ _Jongin_ ,” she sobbed, gripping her own thighs so hard she knew there would be marks, “I'm gonna come. _Fuck_. I'm gonna-”

With Jongin's eyes on her as she fell apart, Baekhyun let her orgasm take her- flesh vibrating against Jongin's fingers and head tipped back as she choked on a silent scream, tears of pleasure wetting her lashes and her left leg shooting out as her toes curled.

She felt like jelly as she came down, letting her right leg slowly straighten as she breathed.

When she opened her eyes, Jongin was rubbing her right shoulder and all of the sudden, Baekhyun realized that what her foot had hit as her leg had straightened mid orgasm was Jongin's _shoulder_.

“Oh my god!” she sat up quickly, head rush making her squeeze her eyes shut momentarily before she was stroking against where she thought she'd kicked her, “I'm so sorry! Are you okay?”

Jongin looked at her for a second before she started laughing.

“I'm fine,” she told her, wiping her fingers on her shirt and leaning over to kiss Baekhyun on the lips, “Does that happen every time you come?”

Baekhyun huffed, pretending to be put out by Jongin's amusement, but really, she was just glad that Jongin wasn't mad that she'd _kicked_ her.

“Not every time,” Baekhyun pouted and Jongin just smiled at her, pressing another kiss to her lips.

“So, was it...good?” Jongin asked when she pulled back from the kiss, unsure again, but Baekhyun didn't know how she possibly could have been considering the fact that she'd come so hard, she'd probably bruised her.

Baekhyun raised her eyebrows.

“Jongin,” she said on a half-laugh, “I came faster than I have ever come in my _life_. I'd say it was pretty damn good.”

Jongin flushed, looking pleased with herself as she damn well should.

“How was it for you?” Baekhyun asked, hating that she sounded like some lame guy in a movie. But considering how Jongin had felt after her previous sexual encounter, she just wanted to be sure.

“You made me come twice,” Jongin giggled, pushing Baekhyun's shoulder like she did when Baekhyun teased her, “What do you think?”

But for once, Baekhyun wasn't teasing. She really needed to know.

“Well, yes,” she chuckled, “But...do you feel better about...everything? Since after the time with Taemin, you were really uncomfortable and-”

“Baekhyun,” Jongin uncharacteristically interrupted her, “It was nothing like last time at all. I liked when you went down on me. I liked making you come. Nothing felt weird or bad or anything like that. It was...I want to do it again.”

At Baekhyun's smirk, Jongin blushed and shoved at her shoulder again.

“I didn't mean now!” she clarified and Baekhyun laughed.

“How about a shower now, then?” Baekhyun offered, smearing her own mess on Jongin's thighs with her fingers.

Jongin smiled, “Okay.”

Baekhyun stood up and immediately pulled her shirt over her head and unhooked her bra, leaving her completely bare.

Jongin seemed frozen for a second, staring at Baekhyun's naked form with her mouth open just slightly.

“You can touch, you know,” Baekhyun told her with amusement, chuckling when Jongin snapped out of it and blinked at her in surprise before she laughed and stood up to divest herself of her own shirt and bra.

It was a view that Baekhyun could certainly get used to.

And she was eager to learn every inch of that skin.

Reaching out to slide her hand over the curve of Jongin's waist, Baekhyun was surprised when Jongin playfully danced out of her reach.

“Shower, Baek,” Jongin chided, laughing and starting to make for her bathroom.

Baekhyun was rendered momentarily speechless by the true splendor of Jongin's ass in all its glory.

“Hey,” she responded a beat too late, “If you think I'm going to be able to shower with you and not touch you, you're crazy.”

Jongin snickered, tossing a look over her shoulder that had Baekhyun hastening to catch up to her.

She'd never known Jongin had it in her to be such a tease, but she was not complaining. This was going to be fun.

\---

“Sehun wants to watch a movie in the common room,” Jongin told her, stretched out on Baekhyun's bed while Baekhyun worked on her homework at her desk.

It was the following day, and while Baekhyun had wanted to repeat what they'd done the day before as soon as she'd gotten home from class, Jongin insisted that they get some homework done first.

“So?” Baekhyun asked, re-reading a sentence in her art theory book, “She doesn't need my permission.”

“She wants to watch _with_ us,” Jongin clarified, laughing when Baekhyun sighed.

“But we can't be naked in the common room,” she complained, and Jongin snorted.

“We can be naked afterward?” Jongin offered and Baekhyun closed her book with a snap.

“What are we waiting for, then?”

The first words out of Sehun's mouth when they met in the common room were, “Jongin! What happened to your shoulder?”

Jongin blinked like she'd forgotten, looking down at the bruise on her shoulder and flushing slightly.

“Baekhyun kicked me,” she informed her, and Zitao raised an eyebrow from her spot on the couch.

“Why?” Sehun asked, confused.

“Oh, come on,” Baekhyun scoffed, sitting down on the other end of the couch and pulling Jongin down next to her, “As if you've never accidentally kicked your leg out when you were coming.”

Sehun choked on nothing, and Jongin's cheeks were pink, but she looked mostly pleased. Even if this wasn't exactly how either of them thought they'd inform their friends that they were dating.

“So you guys are finally together,” Zitao observed blandly, “About time.”

Baekhyun preened while Sehun continued to look back and forth between them.

“Yep!” Baekhyun happily confirmed, leaning over to press a kiss to Jongin's lips and enjoying how much she was blushing. It was really cute.

“I didn't need to see that!” Sehun complained.

“Why? Because we're both girls?” Baekhyun asked, defensive. She could see Zitao roll her eyes in the background.

Sehun looked at her like she was stupid.

“ _No_ , because I don't want to see either of you kissing anything ever. It's weird.”

Naturally, Baekhyun took that as an invitation to kiss Jongin again- lingering just a little longer this time.

“Gross,” Sehun deadpanned, “Can we watch the movie now?”

“Yes,” Jongin jumped in before Baekhyun could make some sexual comment. Which was precisely what she had been planning on doing.

But if the consolation prize for not getting to further scar Sehun was cuddling with Jongin and pressing sweet kisses to her cheek sporadically throughout the movie, she couldn't complain.

\---

Despite her hesitance to broadcast her sexuality previously, Baekhyun decided to fuck it once she and Jongin started dating. She didn't want Jongin to feel like she had to hide their relationship. And besides, it was going to become pretty obvious that they were dating when Jongin stayed over with her nearly every night.

Fortunately, most of the freshmen on Baekhyun's floor were totally okay with it. A couple even came to her to talk about issues regarding sexuality, and she was really happy that she could offer that kind of support.

Chanyeol was thrilled that Baekhyun was “dating the kid” despite Baekhyun telling her to shut the fuck up and _stop calling her that_. Jongin seemed a bit unsure the first time she met Chanyeol since she'd found out about the friends with benefits arrangement she and Baekhyun used to have, but by the end of their coffee date, she was nearly crying from laughter as Chanyeol told embarrassing stories about Baekhyun from their freshman year. Jongin leaned into Baekhyun's side and gripped her hand under the table as she laughed while Baekhyun huffed and told Chanyeol that they were no longer friends.

Overall, it had been a pretty successful afternoon.

Sehun was happy for them in her own special way that involved a lot of sighing and put upon indifference. Baekhyun thought that over-sharing about her and Jongin's relationship was the funniest shit ever. She wasn't wrong.

And Zitao...Zitao was supportive- had been from the get go. But Baekhyun could tell that she was jealous that everything had worked out for them, while she was still trying to get Sehun to look at her as more than a friend.

That is, until her hard work finally paid off.

Jongin and Baekhyun walked out of Baekhyun's room to go get dinner one Friday night, knees still a little weak from getting each other off not ten minutes prior, and there were Zitao and Sehun making out in the hall.

Zitao had Sehun pinned against the paint-covered, cinder block wall with her tongue halfway down her throat. And with the eagerness with which Sehun was kissing back, it didn't seem one-sided at all.

Baekhyun cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows in amusement as the two jumped apart.

“Wow, Sehun,” she said, “Joonmyun is a lot for female than I expected.”

“Shut up,” Sehun mumbled, cheeks red.

“And he looks a lot more like Zitao than I thought he would,” she went on, proud of herself when she heard Jongin trying to stifle her giggles behind her hand.

Zitao looked extremely pleased, practically preening, while Sehun tried to scowl at Baekhyun's obnoxiousness even though it was obvious she was pretty pleased too.

“We'll leave you two to it,” Baekhyun told them with a smirk and a waggle of her eyebrows, linking her fingers with Jongin's and pulling her along after her.

“Wow,” Jongin laughed when they were outside, “That's new.”

“I'm glad Zitao's tireless attempts to woo Sehun finally paid off,” Baekhyun declared and Jongin nodded in agreement, “Though going to check on them is going to be like playing Russian roulette now. I'll never know what I'm interrupting...” She shuddered and Jongin wrinkled her nose in sympathy even as she giggled.

“I don't think Sehun expected to end up dating a girl,” Jongin mused, swinging their joined hands between them.

Baekhyun quirked a brow and shot her an amused smile, “To be fair, neither did you.”

Jongin looked thoughtful, “True.”

Baekhyun chewed on her lower lip before deciding to ask the question she'd been meaning to ask.

“Are you...glad things worked out the way they did?” Baekhyun asked, looking at their clasped hands, “I know this isn't exactly what you had in mind for yourself...”

Jongin stopped walking, but kept a hold of Baekhyun's hand, dragging her in toward her.

“This wasn't initially what you had in mind for _your_ self either,” Jongin pointed out, referencing the story Baekhyun had told her about her own realization of her sexuality, and Baekhyun had to concede that she had a point, “But are _you_ happy how things turned out?”

“Of course!”

“Then you understand how I feel too,” Jongin told her, leaning over to kiss her.

Baekhyun was always impressed when Jongin proved she wasn't afraid of public displays of affection despite the fact that she had identified as straight mere months ago. The fact that Jongin seemed eager to show off Baekhyun as her girlfriend always had Baekhyun's heart beating faster.

“When did you get so wise, Jonginnie?” Baekhyun teased, and Jongin chuckled, embarrassed.

But then Baekhyun pulled her down by the back of the neck to kiss her again, wanting to show her just _how_ happy she was that things had turned out the way they had, and Jongin seemed to forget her embarrassment- kissing her back enthusiastically.

Maybe Baekhyun hadn't expected to end up dating the best friend of one of the freshmen on her floor and maybe Jongin hadn't foreseen falling for a girl, but Baekhyun couldn't think of a better outcome. And she had a feeling that Jongin couldn't either.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Banks' _Stick_.
> 
> Even though this is old, I really do adore comments. It's just so nice to see that people are reading and enjoying :')
> 
> Follow me on [tumblr](http://g-odalisque13.tumblr.com/) if you are so inclined ^^


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